# Vera (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/vera/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Russian |
| Meaning | “faith”, “true” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈvɪə.ɹə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 149,854 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 398 / 149,456 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 718, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed in the nineteenth century from the Russian virtue name Ве́ра (Véra, “faith”). By folk etymology it has also been explained as Latin vera (“true”).

## What it means

Vera is grouped under faith and truth.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 573 | 512 |
| 2012 | 615 | 498 |
| 2013 | 721 | 423 |
| 2014 | 891 | 365 |
| 2015 | 1,054 | 311 |
| 2016 | 1,059 | 308 |
| 2017 | 1,160 | 280 |
| 2018 | 1,264 | 257 |
| 2019 | 1,284 | 253 |
| 2020 | 1,221 | 246 |
| 2021 | 1,310 | 229 |
| 2022 | 1,339 | 224 |
| 2023 | 1,333 | 224 |
| 2024 | 1,355 | 226 |
| 2025 | 1,482 | 205 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1933 | 14 | 1,987 |
| 1934 | 8 | 2,953 |
| 1935 | 16 | 1,832 |
| 1936 | 6 | 3,529 |
| 1937 | 18 | 1,684 |
| 1939 | 13 | 2,044 |
| 1940 | 6 | 3,442 |
| 1941 | 10 | 2,483 |
| 1942 | 7 | 3,197 |
| 1943 | 6 | 3,525 |
| 1947 | 5 | 4,233 |
| 1953 | 6 | 3,777 |
| 1956 | 6 | 3,917 |
| 1959 | 8 | 3,277 |
| 1963 | 5 | 4,591 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 11 | 2,275 |
| 2012 | 22 | 1,428 |
| 2013 | 20 | 1,537 |
| 2014 | 23 | 1,367 |
| 2015 | 30 | 1,139 |
| 2016 | 38 | 955 |
| 2017 | 39 | 949 |
| 2018 | 39 | 936 |
| 2019 | 42 | 864 |
| 2020 | 44 | 821 |
| 2021 | 61 | 634 |
| 2022 | 50 | 729 |
| 2023 | 51 | 706 |
| 2024 | 52 | 722 |
| 2025 | 51 | 719 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: فِيرَا, فِيرَا
- Bulgarian: Вя́ра
- Chinese: 薇拉
- Czech: Věra
- Danish: Vera
- Finnish: Veera
- French: Vera, Véra
- German: Vera
- Greek: Βέρα
- Japanese: ヴェラ
- Latvian: Vera
- Norwegian: Vera
- Polish: Wiara, Wiera
- Portuguese: Vera
- Russian: Ве́ра
- Slovak: Viera
- Swedish: Vera
- Ukrainian: Ві́ра, Ве́ра, Вє́ра

## People named Vera

- Vera Farmiga, American actress (born 1973)
- Vera Rubin, American astronomer and physicist (1928-2016)
- Vera Lynn, British singer (1917–2020)
- Vera Menchik, Czech chess player (1906–1944)
- Věra Čáslavská, Czechoslovak sports official, artistic gymnast and coach (1942–2016)
- Vera Miles, American actress (born 1929)
- Vera Wang, American fashion designer (born 1939)
- Věra Chytilová, Czech film director (1929–2014)
- Vera Brittain, English writer (1893-1970)
- Věra Jourová, Czech politician, businesswoman, jurist and university teacher (born 1964)
- Vera-Ellen, actress, singer, dancer (1921-1981)
- Véra Clouzot, Brazilian-French actress (1913-1960)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.