Vitaliy
A masculine name of Russian origin meaning "full of life" or "vital".
Name Census estimates that about 418 living Americans carry the first name Vitaliy. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vitaliy today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vitaliy births was 2004 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vitaliy. 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
418
~ 1 in 819,986 Americans
Peak year
2004
24 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,785
Tracked since 1994
Popularity
Vitaliy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vitaliy from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 185 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vitaliy 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 Vitaliy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vitaliys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Washington, California, New York recorded the most babies named Vitaliy, while Oregon, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vitaliy
The name Vitaliy originates from the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "vitalis," which means "life" or "vital." The name was likely given to children as a wish for them to have a long and healthy life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vitaliy can be found in the writings of the Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca the Younger, who lived from around 4 BC to 65 AD. Seneca mentions a man named Vitalius in one of his works, suggesting that the name was already in use during that time period.
In the early Christian era, the name Vitaliy gained popularity as it was borne by several saints and martyrs. One notable example is Saint Vitalius, a 4th-century bishop of Ravenna, who is celebrated in the Catholic Church for his defense of orthodoxy against the Arian heresy.
Another famous bearer of the name Vitaliy was Vitalian, a 7th-century Pope who reigned from 657 to 672 AD. During his pontificate, he worked to strengthen the Church's authority in England and encouraged the spread of Christianity in the British Isles.
In the Byzantine Empire, the name Vitaliy was also quite common. One significant figure was Vitalian, a 6th-century rebel who led a revolt against the Emperor Anastasius I in 513 AD. Although his rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, it highlighted the political tensions of the time.
Moving forward in history, the name Vitaliy remained popular in various regions, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia. One notable Russian bearer of the name was Vitaliy Ginzburg (1916-2009), a renowned physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003 for his contributions to the theory of superconductivity.
Another famous Vitaliy was Vitaliy Potapenko (born in 1975), a Ukrainian-American professional basketball player who played in the NBA for several teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.
People
Vitaliy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vitaliy 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
Vitaliy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vitaliy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 418 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vitaliy 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 819,986 US residents.
Is Vitaliy a common name?
We classify Vitaliy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 423 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vitaliy most popular?
The single biggest year for Vitaliy was 2004, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vitaliy is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Vitaliy a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vitaliy 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.
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.