Vesta
Feminine · “of the hearth”
Vesta is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 8,181 girls against 27 boys since 1880.
Vesta is the Roman goddess of the hearth, and her temple in the forum held a fire that was not allowed to go out. The name is the fire, the household and the state all at once.
How old is the name Vesta?
Vesta was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Vesta alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. About 1,600 people named Vesta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vesta most popular?
Vesta peaked in 1894, reaching #278 nationally. See the whole 1894 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Vesta
The cult of Vesta was one of the oldest in Rome and one of the last to be closed down. The Vestal Virgins tended the perpetual fire in the forum for over a thousand years; the fire going out was treated as a national emergency. The name came into English use through the nineteenth-century enthusiasm for classical names, and in Britain it was helped further along by being the brand name of a common type of match — a small connection that kept the word in everyday sight.
Meaning
of the hearth
The name of the Roman goddess of the household fire, cognate with the Greek Hestia. The root is old enough that its own origin is not recoverable, but what the name denoted in Rome is entirely clear.
Pronouncing Vesta
VES-tuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. It rhymes with the first two syllables of 'festival'.
Nicknames for Vesta
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1919242 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #278reached in 1894
- Change vs 2021
- −28.6%5 in 2024, 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.
Vesta in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vesta in Latin — same name
- Vesta in Italian — same name
Vestas among us
people named Vesta 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
Vesta has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- A goddess name with a completely concrete domain — the hearth fire — rather than an abstract one.
- Five letters, two syllables, one obvious pronunciation.
- It sits with Luna, Aurora and Juno, Roman names that have returned to use, without being as common as any of them.
- The classical association is strong, and a child will be explaining who Vesta was fairly often.
- It is close in sound to 'vest', which children will find.
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What they receive
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Vesta
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Vestas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Vesta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vesta in 2025?
- Vesta is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Vesta with classmates?
- Vesta will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More V names
The most-given names starting with V, all years combined.
Virginia#525 · Victoria#54 · Valerie#127 · Vanessa#377 · Vivian#70 · Veronica#427 · Violet#13 · Vicki
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vesta? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vesta and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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