Vinton
From an English surname meaning "from the vine town" or "place of vines".
Name Census estimates that about 485 living Americans carry the first name Vinton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vinton today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vinton births was 1916 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vinton. 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.
People living today
485
~ 1 in 706,710 Americans
Peak year
1916
31 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,087
Tracked since 1894
Census
Vinton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 617 people with the first name Vinton, which placed it at #17,717 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,717
National first-name rank
People counted
617
617 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vinton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vinton is White at 58.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Vinton described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Vinton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.5% · 361
- Black or African American26.3% · 162
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.3% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 25
- Two or more races3.9% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 12
Popularity
Vinton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vinton from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 188 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vinton 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 Vinton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vintons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Iowa, Maine recorded the most babies named Vinton, while Maine, Iowa, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vinton
The name Vinton is an English given name derived from the Old English word "vintun," which means "vine town" or "wine town." It likely originated as a surname or place name referring to a town or village known for its vineyards or wine production. The name has been in use since at least the 13th century.
In the early 15th century, a record shows a Vinton Baggot was appointed as a royal clerk in England. Later, in the 16th century, a Vinton Revell was listed as a prominent landowner in the county of Essex.
One of the earliest known individuals with the given name Vinton was Vinton Legar, an English merchant and explorer born around 1580. He is noted for his travels to the West Indies and his writings about the region's natural resources and indigenous peoples.
Another notable figure was Vinton Maddox (1733-1808), a British officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. He is remembered for his participation in the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Long Island.
In the United States, one of the most famous individuals with the name Vinton was Samuel Finley Vinton (1792-1862), a politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. He was influential in the development of the modern-day public land survey system and the establishment of the Department of the Interior.
Another American of note was Vinton Liddell Pickens (1825-1892), a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He played a significant role in the Battle of Gettysburg and later served as a postmaster in South Carolina.
Lastly, Vinton Hay (1856-1939) was an American businessman and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia. He was involved in various business ventures, including coal mining and banking.
People
Vinton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vinton 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
Vinton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vinton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 485 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vinton 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 706,710 US residents.
Is Vinton a common name?
We classify Vinton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,068 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vinton most popular?
The single biggest year for Vinton was 1916, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vinton is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vinton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 617 people with the name Vinton, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,717 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Vinton in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Vinton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vinton leans strongly male. 605 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 14 female bearers (2.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Vinton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vinton is White at 58.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Vinton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vinton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.5% (361 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Vinton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vinton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vinton 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 Vinton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vinton 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 Vinton 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.
How many people have the name Vinton?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.