Vidal
Masculine · “of life”
Vidal is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 4,237 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Vidal is life, and it has an unusual double history: it was a Latin Christian name and, quite separately, the name Sephardic Jewish families used in Spanish when the Hebrew name was Chaim — because both words mean the same thing.
How old is the name Vidal?
Vidal first appears in US birth records in 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Vidal alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 3,600 people named Vidal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vidal most popular?
Vidal peaked in 1972, reaching #621 nationally. Today it ranks #3089, 2,468 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From vita to Vidal
The story of Vidal
Vitalis was an early Christian name carried by several martyrs, and it became Vidal in Spanish and Catalan and Vital in French. Separately, medieval Jewish communities in Iberia and Provence used Vidal as the vernacular pair for Chaim, and it appears in that role throughout the Hebrew documents of the period — a practice that produced a whole set of translated names. Both roads reach United States records, and the Spanish Catholic one is much the commoner.
Meaning
of life, vital
Latin vitalis means belonging to life, from vita — the same root behind vital and vitality. That reading is documented. The Jewish use is a translation rather than a coincidence: Hebrew Chaim means life, and Sephardic families across Spain and the Mediterranean used Vidal as its everyday equivalent, the way Yiddish speakers paired Tzvi with Hersh.
How the name formed
- vita
- Vitalis
- Vidal
Related forms: Vidal · Vidal · Vital · Chaim
Pronouncing Vidal
vee-DAHL
Two syllables with the stress on the second in Spanish and Catalan. English speakers often say VY-dal, giving the first vowel an English long i and moving the stress, which changes both.
Nicknames for Vidal
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
- 1909
- Most boys named
- 199395 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #621reached in 1972
- Change vs 2023
- +21.9%39 in 2025, from 32
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.
Vidal in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vidal in Spanish — same name
- Vidal in Catalan — same name
- Vital in French — same name
- Chaim in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Vidals among us
people named Vidal are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 43,797 born in 2025 was named Vidal
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 Lauren test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Vidal's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lauren climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lauren's path sketches the road Vidal is walking now.
Vidal 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 Vidal is headed
Vidal should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Vidal beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vidal in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Latin meaning and a genuinely interesting double tradition behind it.
- Five letters, no silent ones, and readable at first sight in English.
- Recognized across Spanish, Catalan, French and Jewish naming alike.
- English speakers move the stress forward and change the first vowel until corrected.
- It is far more common as a surname than a first name and will be read as one.
- A well-known hair-care brand carries the name, which comes up.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Vidal
Masculine · #3089 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vidals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Vidal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vidal in 2025?
- Vidal ranks #3089 among US boy names in 2025, with 39 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vidal?
- About 1 in every 43,797 US boys born in 2025 was named Vidal — 39 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vidal with classmates?
- Vidal will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vidal
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aadi#3089 · Wynston#3089 · Braelyn#3089 · Leopoldo#3089 · Zaedyn#3089 · Saxon#3089 · Rehan#3089 · Cree#3089
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vidal? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vidal and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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