Head to head · Girls' names
Jasmine vs Vera
#206 vs #205 in 2025
Vera is a whisker ahead (#205 vs #206 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Vera is back after a long quiet spell, Jasmine is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Vera leads 4 measures of 6; Jasmine leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Jasmine —, Vera #176 — Vera higher
- 1890s: Jasmine —, Vera #85 — Vera higher
- 1900s: Jasmine #1951, Vera #71 — Vera higher
- 1910s: Jasmine #3203, Vera #67 — Vera higher
- 1920s: Jasmine #3501, Vera #85 — Vera higher
- 1930s: Jasmine #3602, Vera #131 — Vera higher
- 1940s: Jasmine #4604, Vera #190 — Vera higher
- 1950s: Jasmine #1868, Vera #249 — Vera higher
- 1960s: Jasmine #2054, Vera #402 — Vera higher
- 1970s: Jasmine #719, Vera #716 — Vera higher
- 1980s: Jasmine #128, Vera #1135 — Jasmine higher
- 1990s: Jasmine #26, Vera #1775 — Jasmine higher
- 2000s: Jasmine #32, Vera #1461 — Jasmine higher
- 2010s: Jasmine #105, Vera #388 — Jasmine higher
- 2020s: Jasmine #180, Vera #226 — Jasmine higher
Vera stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Jasmine has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Jasmine | Vera |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #176 |
| 1890s | — | #85 |
| 1900s | #1951 | #71 |
| 1910s | #3203 | #67 |
| 1920s | #3501 | #85 |
| 1930s | #3602 | #131 |
| 1940s | #4604 | #190 |
| 1950s | #1868 | #249 |
| 1960s | #2054 | #402 |
| 1970s | #719 | #716 |
| 1980s | #128 | #1135 |
| 1990s | #26 | #1775 |
| 2000s | #32 | #1461 |
| 2010s | #105 | #388 |
| 2020s | #180 | #226 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Jasmine
- Canada#91
- England & Wales#92
Vera
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Jasmine
Jasmine flower
The word is Persian, yasamin, and it traveled with the plant: into Arabic, into Spanish and Italian, into French and then English, gathering spellings on the way. The name is the flower and nothing else, which puts it in the same class as Rose, Lily and Violet rather than in the class of names with a hidden meaning to be looked up.
yasamin → jasmin → Jasmine
How it traveled
Jasmine is one of the most expensive materials in perfumery for reasons that come straight from the plant's habits. The flowers give off scent at night, must be picked by hand within a few hours of opening, and yield so little oil that it takes several thousand blossoms to produce a few grams; a single field's harvest is measured in the weight of petals.
Vera
'Faith' in Russian, or 'true' from Latin
In Russian, Vera is simply the word for faith — one of a trio of virtue names alongside Nadezhda (hope) and Lyubov (love), calqued from the Greek Pistis. Independently, the Latin adjective verus/vera means 'true', and English speakers have long read the name that way. Both roads are real; which one a given family means depends on where the name reached them.
Pistis (Greek, 'faith') → Vera (Russian) → Vera (English)
How it traveled
The Slavic line is the older and better documented: Vera is the ordinary Russian noun for faith, used as a Christian name in the tradition of the virtue names, and it traveled westward with Russian and other Slavic families through the nineteenth century. English speakers picked it up in that same era, helped along by its resemblance to Latin vera, 'true', and by a fashion for Russian settings in fiction and on stage — Oscar Wilde's first play was called Vera; or, The Nihilists.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Jasmine
JAZ-min
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The Persian and Arabic forms begin with a y and put the weight at the back; the j is what French and Spanish did to that sound, and English took the French version.
- Jas — The front alone; brisk, unisex and very widely used.
- Jazzy — The front softened and spelled for the sound; affectionate and playful.
- Minnie — Built from the ending; an old name in its own right and unrecognizable as a shortening.
- Yas — The front of the Persian and Arabic forms, used by families who know those.
Vera
VEER-uh
VEER-uh is standard in American English. VAIR-uh is common in Britain and in continental Europe, and Russian speakers say something closer to VYEH-rah. All three are the same name, and Veras often answer to more than one.
- Vee — The usual English short form; informal, and also used as a standalone nickname for other V names.
- Verochka — Russian affectionate diminutive, used within families rather than in formal settings.
- Verusha — Another Russian diminutive, warmer and more informal than the plain name.
- Verka — Russian familiar form, blunt and colloquial rather than tender.
Who has carried each name
Jasmine
Jasmine Guy (b. 1962) — A Different World star
Vera
Vera Wang (b. 1949) — The name in wedding dresses
Vera Rubin (b. 1928) — Astronomer whose work proved dark matter exists
Vera Lynn (b. 1917) — WWII Britain's "Forces' Sweetheart"
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Jasmine if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsJasmine is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooJasmine is on the national lists of Canada and England & Wales
- a newer arrivalJasmine entered the US charts in 1906
- a name that feels very nowJasmine is stepping back from its peak
Choose Vera if you want…
- a name on the way upup 41 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordVera was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 30% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 80% for Jasmine
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Jasmine
Strengths
- Recognizable across Persian, Arabic, Turkish, French and Spanish with only small changes of spelling.
- The meaning is a real and pleasant thing that needs no explaining in any language.
- Several short forms with completely different registers, from the brisk Jas to the antique Minnie.
To consider
- The name is on record for boys in small numbers, so it is not the absolute signal it appears.
- Jasmin, Jazmin, Jazmine and Yasmin are all in use, so spelling it out is a permanent job.
- One animated film has owned the name for a generation of American children.
Vera
Strengths
- Four letters, two syllables, spelled the way it sounds — rarely misheard and almost never misspelled.
- Works unchanged in Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Serbian and Hungarian, which matters in a family that spans languages.
- An unbroken record in English-language use for well over a century, so it is familiar to every generation without being common in any.
To consider
- The VEER-uh and VAIR-uh split is real and will follow her. Neither is wrong, but she will spend a lifetime gently correcting whichever half of the room says the other one.
- The name is still strongly associated with older generations, which is part of why it is coming back — but expect a few people to react to it as their great-aunt's name before they react to it as a baby's.
- 'Aloe vera' and a well-known handbag label both put the word in front of people daily, so the sound is familiar from contexts that have nothing to do with the name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Jasmine
80%chance Jasmine feels dated by 2040
Jasmine is coming down from a big peak (#23 in 1993). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Vera
30%chance Vera feels dated by 2040
Vera is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Jasmine and Vera in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Jasmine and Vera?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Nature names in real use
- Names of the '80s and '90s, currently resting
- Generation Z names (born 1997–2012)
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- all guides
Where Jasmine and Vera each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Jasmine or Vera — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Jasmine or Vera?
- Vera, in 2025: Vera ranked #205 with 1,482 babies; Jasmine ranked #206 with 1,481 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Jasmine or Vera?
- Vera. Over the last five years Jasmine moved down 66 places; Vera moved up 41 places.
- Which is the older name, Jasmine or Vera?
- Jasmine entered the US charts in 1906; Vera was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Vera is the older name.
- How many people are named Jasmine and Vera?
- About 255,000 people named Jasmine are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 50,500 people named Vera are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Jasmines or Veras in the classroom?
- Jasmine will almost certainly be the only one in school. Vera will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Jasmine, Vera and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap