Victor
Feminine · “conqueror”
Victor is given to boys far more often — 330,413 boys against 1,807 girls since 1880. See Victor as a boy name
A man with this name wrote a novel to save a building. The cathedral in Paris was in a bad state and there was serious talk of demolishing parts of it; he wrote a book with the church itself as the real subject, made it enormously popular, and a restoration campaign followed within a few years.
How old is the name Victor?
Victor first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Victor alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 1,300 people named Victor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Victor most popular?
Victor peaked in 1917, reaching #1652 nationally. See the whole 1917 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From victor to Victor
The story of Victor
It is one of a small set of Latin agent nouns that English uses without changing a letter. Actor, doctor, rector, victor, orator — all of them are the Latin word exactly as Latin had it, with the ending that means one who does the thing, and English has adopted them wholesale rather than translating or adapting. Most Latin borrowings get worn down or reshaped on the way in; these did not, because they arrived through writing rather than through speech. A name that looks entirely English is a Latin word sitting in the language untouched.
Meaning
conqueror
Latin, the agent noun of the verb meaning to prevail. It was taken deliberately by early Christians for what it argued rather than for what it described, which is unusual for a name this old.
How the name formed
- victor
- Victor
Related forms: Víctor · Victor · Vittorio · Viktor
Pronouncing Victor
VIK-tur
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Spanish and French say it almost identically, which makes the name unusually stable across languages.
Nicknames for Victor
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 198943 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1652reached in 1917
- Change vs 2013
- −16.7%5 in 2016, 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.
Victor in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Víctor in Spanish — same name
- Victor in French — same name
- Vittorio in Italian — same name
- Viktor in Russian — same name
Victors among us
people named Victor 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
Victor 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
- It is recognized across Europe and the Americas with almost no change.
- The meaning is strong, clear and easy to explain to a child.
- Vic sits inside it as a short form that works in any register.
- It is a fairly emphatic word to hand to a child.
- It is common enough that a child may not be the only one nearby.
- The record holds girls as well, and the girl is much the smaller side.
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What they receive
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Victor
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Victors are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Victor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Victor in 2025?
- Victor is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Victor with classmates?
- Victor 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 Victor? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Victor and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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