Vida
Feminine · Latin roots · “life" in Spanish and Portuguese”
Vida is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 12,435 girls against 38 boys since 1880.
Vida is the everyday Spanish and Portuguese word for life, and it is also the name of a ballad heroine in Slovene folk song, Lepa Vida — "beautiful Vida." Four letters, two open syllables, and no silent anything: it is the kind of name that survives being called across a playground or written on a form. In American records it has never disappeared and never crowded, holding a quiet line across generations.
How old is the name Vida?
Vida was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Vida alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 6,100 people named Vida are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vida most popular?
Vida peaked in 1886, reaching #318 nationally. Today it ranks #1211, 893 places below that high. See the whole 1886 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From vita (Latin) to Vida
The story of Vida
The Latin vita gave Spanish and Portuguese their word vida, and in both languages the word has long doubled as a given name — plain, unadorned, and instantly understood by anyone who speaks them. A separate line runs through the Slavic south, where Vida is the feminine of Vid and where Slovene folk tradition preserves the ballad of Lepa Vida, the beautiful woman carried away over the sea. In English, a third and quieter road: Vida served as a short form of Davida, and by the later nineteenth century it was being used as a name in its own right in Britain, Australia and the United States. Those three streams arrived at the same four letters independently, which is why the name feels at home in so many places.
Meaningscholars disagree
"life" in Spanish and Portuguese — though the name reaches English by more than one road
In Spanish and Portuguese, vida means life, straight from Latin vita, and that is the reading most speakers hear. In Slovene, Croatian and Serbian tradition, Vida stands as the feminine of Vid, the local form of Latin Vitus — a name built on the same vita root. In nineteenth-century English-speaking countries, Vida also functioned as a clipped form of Davida, the feminine of David, which has nothing to do with life at all. All three are genuine; which one applies depends on the family.
How the name formed
- vitaLatin
- vidaSpanish, Portuguese
- Vida
Related forms: Vida · Vida · Vida · Vida · Vida · Davida
Pronouncing Vida
VEE-duh (Spanish) or VY-duh (English)
Spanish and Portuguese speakers say VEE-dah, with a clear first vowel. Older English-language usage often gave it VY-duh, rhyming with Ida. Both are correct for this name, so whichever you choose is worth saying out loud when you introduce her.
Nicknames for Vida
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 2022277 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #318reached in 1886
- Change vs 2022
- −32.5%187 in 2025, from 277
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.
Vida in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vida in Spanish — same name
- Vida in Portuguese — same name
- Vida in Slovene — same name
- Vida in Croatian / Serbian — same name
- Vida in Hungarian — same name
- Davida in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Vidas among us
people named Vida are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,595 born in 2025 was named Vida
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
Vida 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
Where Vida is headed
Vida should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Vida beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vida in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, spelled exactly as it sounds in Spanish — little risk of misspelling once people have heard it.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Portuguese, Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian, which matters in a bilingual or multinational family.
- Short enough that it needs no nickname, while still offering Vi and the Spanish Vidita if one is wanted.
- An unbroken presence in American records across many generations, so it is familiar to the ear without being common.
- Two established pronunciations, VEE-duh and VY-duh, means she will spend some of her life correcting people — a small, permanent task rather than a problem.
- In the United States the name is most strongly represented among older generations, so it may read as a grandmother's name to some ears and as entirely fresh to others.
- To Spanish and Portuguese speakers the name is simply the word for life, with no distance at all between name and vocabulary. Some families love that directness; others find it a lot to carry.
- Expect occasional slips to Veda, Vita or Viola, all of which are separate names with separate histories.
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Vida
Feminine · Latin roots · #1211 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vidas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,100 people named Vida are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vida in 2025?
- Vida ranks #1211 among US girl names in 2025, with 187 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vida?
- About 1 in every 8,595 US girls born in 2025 was named Vida — 187 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vida with classmates?
- Vida will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vida
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cattleya#1211 · Maleah#1211 · Jayda#1211 · Asiya#1211 · Nathaly#1211 · Egypt#1211 · Tala#1211 · Anneliese#1207
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vida? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vida and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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