Vu
Masculine
Vu is two letters, and in Vietnam it is a family name rather than a given one. American records do not always know that, which is how a surname ends up in the front position on a birth certificate.
How old is the name Vu?
Vu first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Vu alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 700 people named Vu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vu most popular?
Vu peaked in 1982, reaching #1193 nationally. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Vu
Vietnam uses a remarkably small stock of family names. A handful of them account for the great majority of the population, and one alone covers something approaching two fifths of it, which means that a shared surname in Vietnam carries almost no information about relationship. Families were assigned or adopted the names of ruling dynasties over the centuries, sometimes under compulsion, and the concentration is the result. Vietnamese naming therefore does its real work elsewhere: the middle name and the given name carry the distinctiveness, and people are addressed by the last element of the name rather than the first, which is the reverse of what an American form expects.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Vietnamese name is written with a diacritic that American records strip, and several distinct names collapse into the same two letters once it is gone. What a given family intended is therefore not recoverable from the record.
Pronouncing Vu
VOO
One syllable. Vietnamese marks the vowel with a tone that English has no way of writing and that changes the word entirely.
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
- 1975
- Most boys named
- 198260 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1193reached in 1982
- Change vs 2014
- −33.3%6 in 2018, from 9
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.
Vu in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vũ in Vietnamese — transliteration
Vus among us
people named Vu are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Vu sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Two letters: the shortest a name can reasonably be, and impossible to misspell.
- It is immediately legible to a very large community and genuinely rare outside it.
- It is quick to write and easy for a child to learn early.
- The tone mark that distinguishes it in Vietnamese is stripped by American paperwork, so the name arrives incomplete.
- Names this short are rejected by some forms and databases, which is a real administrative nuisance.
- In Vietnam it is a family name, so its use in front position will be noticed by anyone who knows.
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Vu
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Vus are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Vu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vu in 2025?
- Vu is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Vu with classmates?
- Vu will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More V names
The most-given names starting with V, all years combined.
Vincent#107 · Victor#209 · Vernon#1382 · Virgil#1409 · Van#970 · Vance#1075 · Vicente#589 · Vaughn#1152
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vu? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vu and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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