Vidar
An Old Norse name meaning "the woodsman" or "warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Vidar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vidar today is around 3 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vidar births was 2024 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vidar. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Vidar. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2024
6 babies that year
Average age
3
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,206
Tracked since 2022
Popularity
Vidar: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Vidar by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Vidar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Vidar
The name Vidar is of Old Norse origin, derived from the words "við" meaning "wide" and "arr" meaning "warrior" or "army". It is believed to have emerged during the Viking era, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD, in the Scandinavian regions of present-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
In Norse mythology, Vidar is the name of a mighty god, the son of Odin and the giantess Gríðr. He is associated with vengeance and is described as the silent one who will avenge his father's death by slaying the monstrous wolf Fenrir during the events of Ragnarök, the prophesied destruction and rebirth of the world in Norse cosmology.
The earliest recorded use of the name Vidar can be found in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse mythological poems compiled in the 13th century, where it is mentioned in the Völuspá and the Vafþrúðnismál, two of the most significant works in this compendium.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Vidar. One of the earliest examples is Vidar Roderik (c. 870 – c. 920), a Viking chieftain and explorer who is said to have led expeditions to the coasts of present-day France and Spain.
Another prominent figure was Vidar Gunnarsson (c. 1230 – c. 1295), a renowned Icelandic skald (poet) and lawspeaker, who served as a lawgiver and played a crucial role in preserving and recording the laws and customs of medieval Iceland.
In the 16th century, Vidar Magnusson (c. 1510 – c. 1580) was a Swedish military commander who fought in the Northern Seven Years' War against Denmark and Lübeck, earning a reputation for his strategic prowess and bravery on the battlefield.
The name Vidar also gained recognition in the 19th century with Vidar Hafsrund (1834 – 1914), a Norwegian explorer and writer who undertook several expeditions to the Arctic regions and documented his experiences in a series of acclaimed books.
More recently, Vidar Helgesen (1934 – 2023) was a prominent Norwegian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and played a significant role in Norway's international relations and peace efforts.
People
Vidar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vidar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Vidar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vidar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vidar going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Vidar a common name?
We classify Vidar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vidar most popular?
The single biggest year for Vidar was 2024, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vidar is about 3 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Vidar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vidar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vidar in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Vidar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vidar in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Vidar can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Vidar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.