Vraj
An Indian name derived from the Sanskrit word "vraj" meaning abode or dwelling.
Name Census estimates that about 387 living Americans carry the first name Vraj. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vraj today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vraj births was 2005 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vraj. 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 Vraj with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
387
~ 1 in 885,670 Americans
Peak year
2005
28 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,250
Tracked since 1994
Census
Vraj in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 465 people with the first name Vraj, which placed it at #21,716 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
#21,716
National first-name rank
People counted
465
465 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
94.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vraj
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vraj is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.6%) and Two or More Races (1.7%). 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 Vraj 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 Vraj at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.4% · 439
- White2.6% · 12
- Two or more races1.7% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 4
- Black or African American0.4% · 2
Popularity
Vraj: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vraj 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 175 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
Vraj 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 Vraj during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vrajs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Vraj
The name Vraj is derived from the Sanskrit word "vraj," which means "to go" or "to wander." It is believed to have originated in ancient India, possibly during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. The name is closely associated with the Hindu deity Lord Krishna, who is said to have spent his childhood in the region known as Vrindavan, which means "the forest of Vraj."
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Vraj can be found in the Bhagavata Purana, an ancient Hindu scripture that dates back to around the 9th century CE. The text describes the idyllic life of Lord Krishna in the pastoral lands of Vraj, where he engaged in various playful activities with his friends, the gopis (cowherd maidens).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Vraj. One of the most famous was Vraj Bhushan Shrivastava (1890-1954), an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer who played a significant role in India's struggle for independence from British rule. Another prominent figure was Vraj Vallabh Dwivedi (1852-1934), a renowned Hindi scholar and author who made important contributions to the development of modern Hindi literature.
In the realm of spirituality, Vraj Kishor Das (1925-2015) was a revered Hindu saint and spiritual teacher who established the Vraj Mandal Parishat, an organization dedicated to promoting the teachings and culture of the Vraj region. Additionally, Vraj Nath Vajpayee (1842-1930) was a celebrated Hindu monk and author who wrote extensively on the philosophy and traditions of the Vraj region.
It is worth mentioning that the name Vraj has also been associated with various literary works and artistic expressions throughout history. For instance, the Vraj Bhasha literature, which flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries, was a significant cultural movement that celebrated the love and devotion between Lord Krishna and the gopis through poetry and dance.
While the name Vraj may not be as common in modern times, it continues to hold cultural and spiritual significance, particularly within the Hindu tradition and the regions of northern India associated with Lord Krishna's childhood and teachings.
People
Vraj + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vraj 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
Vraj: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vraj?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 387 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vraj 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 885,670 US residents.
Is Vraj a common name?
We classify Vraj as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 391 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vraj most popular?
The single biggest year for Vraj was 2005, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vraj is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vraj in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 465 people with the name Vraj, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,716 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 Vraj 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 Vraj?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vraj appears almost entirely male. Of the 465 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Vraj?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vraj is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.6%) and Two or More Races (1.7%). 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 Vraj most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Vraj in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.4% (439 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 Vraj in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vraj a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vraj 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 Vraj still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vraj 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 Vraj 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 Vraj?
Want to know how many Americans are named Vraj? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.