Vivian
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "lively" or "vigorous".
Name Census estimates that about 115,638 living Americans carry the first name Vivian. It sits at #77 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Vivian today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vivian births was 1920 (4,200 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Jake (115,262).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vivian. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Vivian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Vivian is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,578 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
116K
~ 1 in 2,964 Americans
Peak year
1920
4,200 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2022 SSA rank
#77
Tracked since 1880
Census
Vivian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 129,222 people with the first name Vivian, which placed it at #436 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
#436
National first-name rank
People counted
129K
129,222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
42.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vivian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vivian is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (15.0%). 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 Vivian 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 Vivian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.0% · 64,602
- Hispanic or Latino18.9% · 24,466
- Black or African American15.0% · 19,419
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.0% · 15,552
- Two or more races3.3% · 4,251
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 932
Gender
Gender distribution for Vivian
Vivian leans heavily female at 98.9% of total registrations, but 2,578 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Vivian as a male name
- Ranked #10,770 in 2022
- 7 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1919 (73 births)
Vivian as a female name
- Ranked #77 in 2024
- 3,088 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (4,128 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vivian appears almost entirely female. Of the 129,224 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Vivian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vivian from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 37,162 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Vivian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vivian 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 Vivian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vivians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Vivian, while Alaska, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,225 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vivian
The name Vivian has its origins in the Latin language and dates back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin name Vivianus, which in turn comes from the Latin word "vivus" meaning "alive" or "lively." The name was initially given as a surname to families associated with the concept of liveliness or vigor.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Vivian as a given name can be found in the 5th century AD, when it was borne by a Gallo-Roman aristocrat named Vivianus who served as a consul in the Western Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, the name Vivian gained popularity as a masculine name in various parts of Europe, particularly in France and England.
One notable historical figure with the name Vivian was Vivian of Foro-Corneliense, a 5th-century bishop and saint from modern-day Italy. Another was Vivian of Gaul, a 5th-century hermit and saint who lived in what is now France. In the 12th century, there was Vivian, a French cardinal and theologian who played a significant role in the Third Crusade.
During the Renaissance period, the name Vivian began to be used as a feminine name as well. One of the earliest recorded examples of a woman named Vivian was Viviana Calchi, an Italian painter and engraver who lived in the 16th century. In the 17th century, there was Viviana Guzman, a Spanish actress and dancer who performed in the court of King Philip IV.
In literature, the name Vivian has been used for both male and female characters. One notable example is Vivian, a character in Edmund Spenser's epic poem "The Faerie Queene," published in the late 16th century. Another is Vivian, a female character in the Arthurian legends, who is often depicted as the Lady of the Lake or a powerful enchantress.
Some other famous individuals with the name Vivian throughout history include Vivian Fuchs (1908-1999), an English explorer and geologist who led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition; Vivian Leigh (1913-1967), an English actress who won two Academy Awards for her performances in "Gone with the Wind" and "A Streetcar Named Desire"; and Vivian Vance (1909-1979), an American actress best known for her role as Ethel Mertz on the sitcom "I Love Lucy."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Vivian
People
Vivian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vivian 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
Vivian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vivian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 115,638 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vivian 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 2,964 US residents.
Is Vivian a common name?
We classify Vivian as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 227,375 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vivian most popular?
The single biggest year for Vivian was 1920, when 4,200 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vivian is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vivian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 129,222 people with the name Vivian, or 42.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #436 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 Vivian 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 Vivian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vivian appears almost entirely female. Of the 129,224 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Vivian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vivian is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (15.0%). 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 Vivian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vivian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (64,602 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 Vivian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vivian a female name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Vivian in the SSA data are female. 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 Vivian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vivian 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 Vivian 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 share the name Vivian?
Want to know how many Americans are named Vivian? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.