Vanity
Feminine · “Latin "emptiness”
Vanity means emptiness, and the famous line means something stranger than it sounds. Vanity of vanities translates Hebrew hevel havalim — breath of breaths — so Ecclesiastes is not calling the world conceited but saying that everything is vapour.
How old is the name Vanity?
Vanity first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Vanity alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 1,800 people named Vanity are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vanity most popular?
Vanity peaked in 1988, reaching #1261 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 6,624 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Where it comes from
From vanus to Vanity
The story of Vanity
Hevel is the ordinary Hebrew word for a puff of breath or a wisp of vapour, and Ecclesiastes uses it as its keyword: everything is hevel, insubstantial and impossible to hold. Jerome rendered it vanitas in the Latin Vulgate, meaning emptiness, and English translators followed with vanity — accurate to the Latin and increasingly misleading in English as the word drifted toward conceit. Modern translations use meaningless, futile or vapour instead. The same Hebrew word is the name Abel, Cain's brother, which some commentators read as deliberate. Vanity as an American given name peaks in 1988.
Meaning
Latin "emptiness, worthlessness"
From Latin vanitas, emptiness or falsity, from vanus, empty — the same root as vain and vaunt. The moral sense of excessive self-regard is a later development in English. The Hebrew word the King James Bible renders as vanity is hevel, a breath or vapour, used thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes for the fleeting and insubstantial.
How the name formed
- vanus
- vanitas
- vanity
- Vanity
Related forms: Vanité · Vanidad
Pronouncing Vanity
VAN-uh-tee
Three syllables, stress on the first. There is no alternative pronunciation; the word is read exactly as the common noun.
Nicknames for Vanity
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1982
- Most girls named
- 1988116 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1261reached in 1988
- Change vs 2024
- −27.8%13 in 2025, from 18
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Vanity in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vanité in French — related form
- Vanidad in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California.
Vanitys among us
people named Vanity are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Vanity
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Hermelinda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Vanity's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hermelinda climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hermelinda's path sketches the road Vanity is walking now.
Vanity sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Vanity beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vanity in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is settled and considerably more interesting than the modern sense.
- Van works as a short form.
- It is read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- The modern English sense of the word is a fault, not a virtue.
- It invites comment throughout a bearer's life.
- The 1980s peak dates a bearer fairly clearly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Vanity to the vote.
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What they receive
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Vanity
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vanitys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Vanity are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vanity in 2025?
- Vanity ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vanity?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Vanity — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vanity with classmates?
- Vanity will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vanity
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vanity? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vanity and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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