Vuk
A masculine Slavic name meaning "wolf."
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Vuk. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vuk today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vuk births was 2020 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vuk. 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 Vuk with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
2020
24 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,419
Tracked since 2005
Census
Vuk in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 264 people with the first name Vuk, which placed it at #32,084 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
#32,084
National first-name rank
People counted
264
264 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vuk
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vuk is White at 93.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.0%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Vuk 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 Vuk at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.2% · 246
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 8
- Two or more races1.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4
- Black or African American0.4% · 1
Popularity
Vuk: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vuk from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 115 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vuk remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vuk 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 Vuk during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vuks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Vuk
The name Vuk has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Serbian and Croatian. It is derived from the Slavic word "vuk," which means "wolf." The name likely emerged during the medieval period in the Balkan region, where Slavic cultures flourished.
Vuk was a popular name among the Serbs and Croats, often given to boys as a symbol of strength, courage, and resilience, qualities associated with the wolf. The name carried a sense of power and respect within these communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vuk can be found in the medieval Serbian epic poetry, particularly in the cycles of Kosovo and Prince Marko. These poems, which date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, feature characters with the name Vuk, reflecting its cultural significance during that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Vuk. One of the most renowned figures was Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787-1864), a Serbian philologist, linguist, and a major reformer of the Serbian language. He played a crucial role in standardizing the modern Serbian literary language and is considered the father of Serbian folk literature.
Another prominent figure was Vuk Branković (1345-1397), a Serbian nobleman and ruler of the District of Branković in the late 14th century. He played a significant role in the medieval Serbian state and is remembered for his involvement in the Battle of Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire in 1389.
Vuk Grgurević (1506-1550) was a Croatian Renaissance writer and poet, known for his satirical works and contributions to the development of Croatian literature during the 16th century.
Vuk Jeremic (born 1975) is a Serbian politician and diplomat who served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly from 2012 to 2013.
Vuk Drašković (born 1946) is a Serbian politician, writer, and former leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, a prominent political party in Serbia in the late 20th century.
These individuals, spanning different eras and fields, exemplify the enduring presence and significance of the name Vuk in Slavic cultures, particularly among the Serbs and Croats.
People
Vuk + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vuk 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
Vuk: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vuk?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vuk 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Vuk a common name?
We classify Vuk as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 239 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vuk most popular?
The single biggest year for Vuk was 2020, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vuk is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vuk in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 264 people with the name Vuk, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,084 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 Vuk 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 Vuk?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vuk appears almost entirely male. Of the 250 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 Vuk?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vuk is White at 93.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.0%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Vuk most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vuk in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.2% (246 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 Vuk in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vuk a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vuk 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 Vuk still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vuk 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 Vuk 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 are called Vuk?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.