Vergil vs Veronica
American parents have registered 224,609 Veronicas since 1880, against 2,024 Vergils. Veronica is still ahead, with 730 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Vergil Veronica
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
Veronica 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 1886, when Vergil had 5 and Veronica had 26.
Side by side
| Vergil | Veronica | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 2,024 | 224,609 |
| Most in one year | 76 | 4,407 |
| Babies in 2025 | 19 | 730 |
| Estimated living today | 550 | 185,000 |
| Median age today | 55 | 44 |
| Peak year | 1920 | 1980 |
| Best rank | 792nd boys | 70th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 5,045th | 427th |
| First recorded | 1886 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 56 / 1,968 | 223,775 / 834 |
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 Vergils alive today are over 55; half the Veronicas are over 44. That is 11 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Vergil Oklahoma (11.8×), Kentucky (8.8×), Texas (2.7×)
- Veronica New Mexico (2.4×), Arizona (1.9×), California (1.9×)
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: Vergil and Veronica.