Vijay
Masculine · “victory”
Vijay is the Sanskrit word for victory, and the prefix in front is doing real work: vi- intensifies, so the name is not merely winning but a complete and thorough winning. It named an empire that ruled southern India for three centuries and, in a separate tradition, the prince said to have founded the Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka.
How old is the name Vijay?
Vijay first appears in US birth records in 1963 — 62 years ago. The typical Vijay alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 1,400 people named Vijay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vijay most popular?
Vijay peaked in 1982, reaching #1382 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 10,626 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From vijaya to Vijay
The story of Vijay
Vijayanagara — the city of victory — was the capital of an empire that dominated southern India from the fourteenth century until its defeat in the sixteenth, and its ruins at Hampi are among the largest archaeological sites in Asia. Separately, the chronicles of Sri Lanka name a prince Vijaya as the ancestor of the Sinhalese. The word therefore carries a weight in South Asia that no translation conveys. As a modern given name it is common across India, particularly in the south, and it reached American records with Indian migration in the later twentieth century.
Meaning
victory
From Sanskrit vijaya, built from the prefix vi-, which intensifies or completes, and the root ji, to conquer or win. It is an ordinary noun as well as a name, and it appears throughout Sanskrit literature in both roles.
How the name formed
- vijaya
- Vijay
Related forms: Vijaya · Vijay · Vijay · Vijaya
Pronouncing Vijay
vih-JAY
Two syllables with the stress at the back in ordinary use, both vowels short and clean. The Sanskrit Vijaya has three syllables and puts the weight on the first; Hindi drops the final vowel, which is how the modern name got its shape.
Nicknames for Vijay
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
- 1963
- Most boys named
- 200649 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1382reached in 1982
- Change vs 2023
- −28.6%5 in 2025, 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.
Vijay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vijaya in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Vijay in Hindi — same name
- Vijay in Tamil — same name
- Vijaya in Sinhala — same name
Vijays among us
people named Vijay are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Vijay
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 Deno test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Vijay's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Deno climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Deno's path sketches the road Vijay is walking now.
Vijay 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
Vijay beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vijay in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is one word long, entirely positive, and instantly explainable.
- Jay is available and makes the name effortless in English-speaking settings.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no sound that English speakers find difficult.
- It is common across several Indian languages, so it travels widely within South Asia.
- Vijay, Vijai and Vijaya all appear in English writing, so the spelling has to be given.
- It is a name about winning, which some children find a lot to carry and others do not mind at all.
- English speakers occasionally stress the first syllable, which sounds noticeably wrong to Indian ears.
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What they receive
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Vijay
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vijays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Vijay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vijay in 2025?
- Vijay ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vijay?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Vijay — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vijay with classmates?
- Vijay will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vijay
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vijay? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vijay and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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