Von
Masculine · “of”
Von is given to both — 5,552 boys and 459 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Von is the German 'of' — the particle in aristocratic surnames — and taken as a first name it carries the preposition alone.
How old is the name Von?
Von first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Von alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 3,900 people named Von are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Von most popular?
Von peaked in 1958, reaching #691 nationally. Today it ranks #2125, 1,434 places below that high. See the whole 1958 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From von to Von
The story of Von
Von before a surname originally said where a family's land was, and only later became a mark of nobility; Austria abolished it by law in 1919. American families took Von as a given name in the twentieth century, sometimes from Vaughn and sometimes from the particle. It appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
of, from
From the German von, 'of' or 'from', which in surnames marked the estate a family held and so came to mark nobility. A separate American use may derive from Vaughn or from initials. The German word is ordinary and the aristocratic function documented.
How the name formed
- von
- Von
Related forms: von · van · Vaughn
Pronouncing Von
VON
One syllable. German von is FON with an f sound.
Nicknames for Von
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
- 1898
- Most boys named
- 1958118 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #691reached in 1958
- Change vs 2023
- −19.0%68 in 2025, from 84
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.
Von in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- von in German — related form
- van in Dutch — related form
- Vaughn in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Tennessee.
Vons among us
people named Von are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 25,119 born in 2025 was named Von
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Von
- #2125
- Von on the 2025 chart
- #846
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Von went to 68 boys in 2025, but Vonn is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 82, which makes it the 846th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,279 places above the chart.
- Von68
- Vonn14
About 1 boy in 20,830 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 25,119 for Von itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Wyman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Von's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wyman climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wyman's path sketches the road Von is walking now.
Von 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 Von is headed
Von 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.
Von beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Von in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That Austria abolished the particle by law is a genuinely good fact.
- One syllable, clean, and never mispronounced in English.
- It is very compact against a long surname.
- It is a preposition rather than a name in German.
- German pronounces the v as an f.
- It is very short and can be swallowed by a long surname.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Von
Masculine · #2125 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Von are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Von?
- Von is the most-used spelling in US records — 68 of the 82 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Vonn.
- How popular is the name Von in 2025?
- Von ranks #2125 among US boy names in 2025, with 68 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Von?
- About 1 in every 25,119 US boys born in 2025 was named Von — 68 in all.
- Will my child share the name Von with classmates?
- Von will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Von
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Younis#2125 · Ayce#2125 · Makaio#2125 · Younes#2125 · Raziel#2125 · Arvin#2125 · Kyrell#2125 · Kyran#2125
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Von? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Von and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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