Veronica
The story
Veronica has two stories, one from language and one from legend. As a word it is a Latin reshaping of the Greek Berenice, bringer of victory, but the new spelling was pulled toward the Latin phrase vera icon, true image, and that is the meaning most people feel in it. The legend gave that meaning its power: Saint Veronica is said to have wiped the face of Jesus on the way to the cross and found his image left on the cloth. So the name means, quite literally, a true likeness. It has a glamorous modern life too, from the comics of Riverdale to films and song. In the United States Veronica was a favorite in the 1960s and reads as current again now, with the sleek short forms Ronnie and Vera. Elegant and a little mysterious, Veronica hands a child victory, a true image and a saint's quiet courage.
Veronica in song
Veronica
Elvis Costello (1989)
Costello co-wrote it with Paul McCartney about his grandmother, whose memory was slipping away, and made it sound like the sunniest song he ever released.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Veronica peaked in the 1960s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
111,883 people · the #291 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,815 · median age 39
Among people named Veronica living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 1,205 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Veronica
People given the name Veronica in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1960 to 1999. 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 Veronica deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Veronica 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 Veronica fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Veronica travels
Mexican American · a graceful classic carried across generations
Keep exploring
Names like Veronica · Nicknames for Veronica · Mexican American baby names
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