Humanverse

Vera vs Vernard

American parents have registered 149,854 Veras since 1880, against 2,066 Vernards. Vera is still ahead, with 1,482 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Vera Vernard

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 1988, when Vera had 93 and Vernard had 24.

Side by side

  Vera Vernard
Total US births 149,8542,066
Most in one year 3,93449
Babies in 2025 1,482under 5
Estimated living today 49,0001,000
Median age today 6058
Peak year 19181922
Best rank 68th girls1,010th boys
Rank in 2025 205thunranked
First recorded 18801900
Girls / boys 149,456 / 3980 / 2,066

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 Veras alive today are over 60; half the Vernards are over 58. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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