Vera
Meaning
faith, truth
Famously borne by Vera Wang, fashion designer. Famously borne by Vera Rubin, astronomer whose work provided key evidence for dark matter.
The story
Vera is faith in the Slavic languages and true in Latin, a name two etymologies bless at once, and it was once an American giant: nearly 33,000 girls in the 1920s alone, about 148,000 across the record. The fall was long and total, down to 869 in the 1990s, one of the deepest resting periods any revived giant on this site has endured. The return is unmistakable: about 1,600 in the 2000s, 9,100 in the 2010s, and 8,000 so far this decade, closing on the full 2010s total, every one of them this decade a girl. It returns alongside Elsie and Olive, the great-grandmother cohort, names that needed three generations in the drawer instead of two. Two syllables, no ornament, a meaning that works in a dozen languages: Vera is what a name looks like when it has nothing to prove and a century of receipts.
The formal names behind Vera
Vera is an established short form of this name.
Veronica · Latin origin · traditionally "true image"
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Vera peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
336,367 people · the #80 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 604 · median age 59
Among people named Vera living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 199 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Vera
People given the name Vera in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 2019. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Vera deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Vera truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Vera fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Vera travels
Chinese American · an elegant crossover pick echoing sounds like 薇拉 (Wēilā); a steady presence in Chinese American families
Global crossover · a classic across Russia and Eastern Europe and a steady presence in both the US and UK
Keep exploring
Names like Vera · Russian baby names · Global crossover names · Chinese American baby names · Short names
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