Verna
Masculine · “springlike (Latin)”
Verna is given to girls far more often — 69,113 girls against 525 boys since 1880. See Verna as a girl name
Verna is a short, firm name with a Latin look, two syllables that start like vernal and end in a plain a. Two of its bearers left work that children still meet: Verna Felton, the voice of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, and Verna Aardema, whose retelling of a West African tale won the Caldecott Medal for its illustrators.
How old is the name Verna?
Verna first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Verna alive today was born around 1928, making them about 97 years old. About 100 people named Verna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Verna most popular?
Verna peaked in 1902, reaching #862 nationally. See the whole 1902 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Verna
Verna appears in American records as a finished name, without a single European source standing plainly behind it. Verna Felton, an actress since childhood, became one of Disney's most familiar voices: the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and the good fairy Flora in Sleeping Beauty. Verna Aardema, a writer from Michigan, retold African folktales for children, and her Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, won the Caldecott Medal in 1976.
Meaningscholars disagree
springlike (Latin), or a short form of Laverne
Two readings compete. Verna is the feminine of the Latin adjective vernus, 'of spring,' the root of English vernal; it has also been used as a short form of Laverne or Laverna, and as a feminine partner to Vernon. The record does not say which road any single family took.
Pronouncing Verna
VUR-nuh
Two syllables, stress on the first, which rhymes with fern.
Nicknames for Verna
Limited
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 192620 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #862reached in 1902
- Change vs 1970
- −28.6%5 in 1978, from 7
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.
Vernas among us
people named Verna are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Verna sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short, spelled as it sounds, and hard to get wrong.
- Two namesakes whose work is still in front of children.
- Shares its opening with vernal, the English word for things of spring.
- It is best known among women born long ago, so it reads as an old-fashioned name.
- Its meaning is contested, so anyone who asks will get two answers rather than one.
- A few boys are recorded with it; the final a marks it as feminine in English, so a boy called Verna will be read as a girl on paper.
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Verna
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Vernas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Verna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Verna in 2025?
- Verna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Verna with classmates?
- Verna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More V names
The most-given names starting with V, all years combined.
Vincent#107 · Victor#209 · Vernon#1382 · Virgil#1409 · Van#970 · Vance#1075 · Vicente#589 · Vaughn#1152
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Verna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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