Vashti
Feminine
Vashti is deposed in the first chapter of Esther for refusing to be displayed. The king, drunk, sends for her to show her beauty to his guests; she declines; his advisers panic that other wives will follow her example, and she is removed. Nineteenth-century American women read that chapter closely and did not read it the way the text intends.
How old is the name Vashti?
Vashti first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Vashti alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 1,500 people named Vashti are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vashti most popular?
Vashti peaked in 1902, reaching #773 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 7,589 places below that high. See the whole 1902 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Vashti
The advisers in Esther 1 say plainly what the problem is: if the queen's refusal becomes known, every woman in the empire will despise her husband. The text presents this as a crisis of order, and the narrative moves on to Esther without further comment. American writers of the nineteenth century, however, kept returning to it. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Elizabeth Cady Stanton both wrote about Vashti, and Stanton's Woman's Bible treats her refusal as a moral act rather than a fault. The name appears in American birth records through exactly that period and peaks in 1902, which suggests the reading had reached beyond the writers. It is one of the clearer cases in the data of a biblical name spreading because of a specific interpretation rather than because of the character's standing in the text.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The name is Persian and its meaning is not established. Proposals include a connection to a word for beautiful or best, and to a Persian or Elamite divine name. The book of Esther is set in the Persian court and several of its names, including Esther and Mordecai, appear to be Babylonian or Persian rather than Hebrew. Vashti peaks in the American data in 1902.
Pronouncing Vashti
VASH-tee
Two syllables, stress on the first, short a. The Hebrew is vahsh-TEE with the stress at the end. There is no competing English reading.
Nicknames for Vashti
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
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 199437 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #773reached in 1902
- Change vs 2022
- −7.7%12 in 2025, from 13
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.
Vashti in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vashti in Hebrew — transliteration
Vashtis among us
people named Vashti are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Vashti
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Vashti 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
Vashti beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vashti in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The biblical figure is a genuinely striking one.
- The spelling is short and unambiguous.
- It is distinctive without being difficult to say.
- The meaning is not established in any language.
- The character is deposed and disappears after one chapter.
- It is rare enough to need spelling out.
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Vashti
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vashtis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Vashti are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vashti in 2025?
- Vashti ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vashti?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Vashti — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vashti with classmates?
- Vashti will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vashti
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Clementina#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vashti? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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