Vashawn
Masculine · “Hebrew Yohanan”
Vashawn is given to both — 505 boys and 33 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
No native English word begins with v. Every one that does is borrowed, mostly from Latin and French, because Old English used the letter f for that sound and only in the middle of words.
How old is the name Vashawn?
Vashawn first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Vashawn alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 500 people named Vashawn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vashawn most popular?
Vashawn peaked in 1976, reaching #2417 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 8,278 places below that high. See the whole 1976 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Vashawn
The story of Vashawn
Old English had the sound but not the letter: f was pronounced as a v between vowels, which is why we still say of and have with a v sound. Words genuinely beginning with v arrived with the Norman conquest and later Latin borrowing, so the entire v section of an English dictionary is imported, with two dialect exceptions, vat and vixen, which come from southern English forms that voiced the initial f. That leaves v as an unusual opening in the native name stock too, and the American coinages that use it, Vashawn, Vashon, Vondell and Vernell, are doing something the language itself rarely does. The second element is a very old name; the first is a modern piece of sound.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew Yohanan, Yah is gracious
Vashawn joins the Va- prefix to Shawn, the English respelling of Irish Sean. The prefix carries no meaning and is one of the rarer American openings. The peak is 1976.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Sean
- Shawn
- Vashawn
Related forms: Vashon · Vashaun
Pronouncing Vashawn
vuh-SHAWN
Two syllables, stress on the second. The prefix is unstressed and reduces to a schwa.
Nicknames for Vashawn
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
- 1973
- Most boys named
- 200019 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2417reached in 1976
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Vashawn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vashon in English — spelling variant
- Vashaun in English — spelling variant
Vashawns among us
people named Vashawn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Vashawn
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 Ulrich test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Vashawn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ulrich climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ulrich's path sketches the road Vashawn is walking now.
Vashawn 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
Vashawn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vashawn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Shawn works as a complete name inside it.
- The v opening is distinctive and rare.
- Two syllables with a firm ending.
- Several spellings compete.
- The prefix carries no meaning.
- The 1976 peak dates it closely.
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What they receive
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Vashawn
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vashawns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Vashawn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vashawn in 2025?
- Vashawn ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vashawn?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Vashawn — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vashawn with classmates?
- Vashawn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vashawn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vashawn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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