Vida
Meaning
means 'life'; also used as a short form of Davida
The story
Vida looks like the Spanish word for life, and Spanish speakers will always hear it that way, but the documented name is a small international committee: a Hungarian form of Vitus, a Slovene feminine of Vid remembered in the Lepa Vida of Prešeren's poetry, a Persian name meaning "visible," and a Lithuanian feminine of Vidas. The American record is a true century cycle: 641 girls in the 1890s, 1,812 in the 1920s, a long slide to 200 in the 1990s, and then the revival: 542 in the 2000s, 1,630 in the 2010s, 1,379 so far this decade. Hundred-year-old names with a dictionary glow are exactly what this era brings back, and Vida returns carrying four documented passports and one radiant coincidence. We write the histories on the page and let the Spanish word do what it does, which is shine.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Vida peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
668 people · the #10,948 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 333,333 · median age 13
Among people named Vida living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 105 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Vida
People given the name Vida in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2025. 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 Vida deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Vida 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 Vida fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Vida fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Vida to your family’s tree →