Humanverse

Vera vs Vernadean

American parents have registered 149,854 Veras since 1880, against 26 Vernadeans. Vera is still ahead, with 1,482 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Vera against Vernadean, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Vera Vernadean

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Vera has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1959, when Vera had 978 and Vernadean had 6.

Side by side

  Vera Vernadean
Total US births 149,85426
Most in one year 3,9348
Babies in 2025 1,482under 5
Estimated living today 49,00013
Median age today 6079
Peak year 19181925
Best rank 68th girls3,664th girls
Rank in 2025 205thunranked
First recorded 18801925
Girls / boys 149,456 / 39826 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Vernadeans alive today are over 79; half the Veras are over 60. That is 19 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Vera and Vernadean.