Vasilios
Masculine · “Royal”
Vasilios is the Greek for kingly, and behind it stands Basil the Great, the fourth-century bishop of Caesarea whose feast opens the Greek new year. In Greece it is one of the handful of names that never went away; in America it arrives with a family and is usually shortened before the child starts school.
How old is the name Vasilios?
Vasilios first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Vasilios alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 1,400 people named Vasilios are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vasilios most popular?
Vasilios peaked in 1975, reaching #1280 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 3,928 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Basileios to Vasilios
The story of Vasilios
Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia and one of the three Holy Hierarchs, died in 379 and became one of the most important saints of the Eastern church. His name became ordinary throughout the Greek world and, through the emperors Basil I and Basil II, imperial as well. Greek families in America carried it with them from the late nineteenth century, and its mid-twentieth-century peak in American records reflects the Greek custom of naming a child for a grandparent, which keeps a name circulating inside the same families for generations.
Meaning
Royal, kingly
From Greek basileus, king, giving basileios, royal. The reading is uncontested. The B of the classical spelling is pronounced as a V in Greek from late antiquity onwards, which is why the same name appears in English as Basil and in Greek transliteration as Vasilios or Vasileios.
How the name formed
- Basileios
- Vasileios
- Vasilios
Related forms: Βασίλειος · Vasily · Basil · Basilio · Vasil · Vasile
Pronouncing Vasilios
vah-SEE-lee-os
Four syllables with the stress on the second. Greek gives the final s clearly. American speech tends to compress it to vuh-SEE-lee-us.
Nicknames for Vasilios
High
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
- 1923
- Most boys named
- 197545 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1280reached in 1975
- Change vs 2024
- +20.0%18 in 2025, from 15
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.
Vasilios in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Βασίλειος in Greek — transliteration
- Vasily in Russian — related form
- Basil in English — same name
- Basilio in Italian — related form
- Vasil in Bulgarian — related form
- Vasile in Romanian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Illinois.
Vasilioss among us
people named Vasilios are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Vasilios
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 Doy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Vasilios's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Doy climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Doy's path sketches the road Vasilios is walking now.
Vasilios 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
Vasilios beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vasilios in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a settled Greek name with an unbroken record of use since the fourth century.
- The meaning, royal, is clear and needs no defending.
- Basil, Vasili and Bill are all available as everyday forms.
- Four syllables is long for American paperwork and will be shortened.
- Vasileios, Vasilios and Vassilios are all in use and will be confused.
- Outside Greek communities the name has to be spelled out every time.
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What they receive
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Vasilios
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vasilioss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Vasilios are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vasilios in 2025?
- Vasilios ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vasilios?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Vasilios — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vasilios with classmates?
- Vasilios will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vasilios
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vasilios? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vasilios and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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