Virginia
Feminine · “from a Roman family name”
Virginia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 652,959 girls against 2,009 boys since 1880. See Virginia as a boy name
The name is not the Latin word for a maiden. It is Verginia, a Roman family name of the kind Roman women carried as a matter of course, and the resemblance to the word for virgin is a later reinterpretation that changed the spelling and then took over the meaning entirely.
How old is the name Virginia?
Virginia was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Virginia alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 241,000 people named Virginia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Virginia most popular?
Virginia peaked in 1921, reaching #6 nationally. Today it ranks #525, 519 places below that high. See the whole 1921 chart.
Where it comes from
From Verginia to Virginia
The story of Virginia
The first English child born in the Americas carried the colony's name and then vanished with it. She was born on Roanoke Island a few days after the settlers landed, christened for the colony, and was nine days old when her grandfather sailed for England to fetch supplies. War with Spain kept him away for three years. When he finally got back the settlement was empty, the houses taken down, and a word carved into a post with no distress signal beside it. Nobody has ever established what happened. She would be the only member of that colony most people can name.
Meaningscholars disagree
from a Roman family name
The family name's own origin is not established; a connection to a word for a shoot or twig has been suggested. What is reasonably clear is that the association with virginity came afterwards and altered the first vowel.
How the name formed
- Verginia
- Virginia
Related forms: Virginia · Virginia · Virginie
Pronouncing Virginia
vur-JIN-yuh
Three or four syllables depending on how quickly it is said. The stress is on the second, and English routinely collapses the ending into one beat.
Nicknames for Virginia
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
- 192119,032 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #6reached in 1921
- Change vs 2022
- +0.2%572 in 2025, from 571
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.
Virginia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Virginia in Italian — same name
- Virginia in Spanish — same name
- Virginie in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Virginia, Texas, North Carolina.
Virginias among us
people named Virginia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,810 born in 2025 was named Virginia
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 Marie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Virginia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marie climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marie's path sketches the road Virginia is walking now.
Virginia has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Virginia is headed
Virginia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Virginia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Virginia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ginny and Gina sit inside it as short forms with different characters.
- It is recognized across Europe with almost no change of spelling.
- It has stayed in continuous use rather than spiking and vanishing.
- The virginity reading is universal and unavoidable, whatever the etymology says.
- It is a state name, which is noticed constantly in America.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Virginia to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Virginia
Feminine · #525 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Virginias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 241,000 people named Virginia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Virginia in 2025?
- Virginia ranks #525 among US girl names in 2025, with 572 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Virginia?
- About 1 in every 2,810 US girls born in 2025 was named Virginia — 572 in all.
- Will my child share the name Virginia with classmates?
- Virginia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Virginia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Iyla#525 · Madelynn#524 · Lottie#527 · Marlowe#523 · Amoura#527 · Skye#529 · Jayla#529 · Cecelia#529
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Virginia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Virginia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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