Virginia
Top 1000
About Virginia
A literary name and a place name with a grand yet familiar feel, Virginia has been in the US Top 1000 since records began in the late 19th century. Also familiar in Spain, Brazil and Italy, recent years have seen it rank around the #500 mark in the States.
While the name might have come from a Roman family name, it has long been associated with the Latin virgo meaning "maid, virgin", and this has generally become its accepted meaning. As such, the colony/state of Virginia was given its name by Sir Walter Raleigh in honor of Elizabeth I, known as the Virgin Queen, and the first child to be born of English parents in the New World was christened Virginia Dare.
In 1916, Virginia made the US Top 10 for the first time, where it remained for the next decade. Its peak was in 1921, when it was the 6th most popular name, given to 19000 babies. Ranking alongside the likes of Helen, Ruth, Anna, and Margaret, it makes a distinctive, yet timeless choice.
She does have a couple of possible downsides — notably those teasable virgin associations — but the fact she has always been in the charts and is recognized as a place name helps. The other is that nicknames Gina. Ginny, Ginger, and Virgie aren't for everyone, but you do have Vivi, Gia, Vinnie, Gigi, and Nia too.
Virginia has such distinguished namesakes as writer Virginia Woolf, has been the subject of songs by groups ranging from The Rolling Stones to the Foo Fighters, and has appeared as a character in a number of books, movies, and TV shows—currently co-starring on Masters of Sex. Ginger Rogers was born Virginia.
Pronounced as vuhr-JIN-yuh or vuhr-JIN-ee-uh in English, it would be veer-JEE-nya in Italian, and beer-KHEE-nya in Spanish.
Pronounced ver-JIN-yuh.
As of October 2026, Virginia ranked #526 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #6 in 1921, Nameberry popularity #791.
Editor's take: The name Virginia is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "virginal, pure".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #583 | 523 | 292.8 |
| 2015 | #523 | 600 | 336.1 |
| 2016 | #516 | 604 | 340.9 |
| 2017 | #514 | 611 | 353.9 |
| 2018 | #537 | 586 | 344.5 |
| 2019 | #533 | 575 | 342.6 |
| 2020 | #581 | 505 | 312.4 |
| 2021 | #544 | 562 | 342.5 |
| 2022 | #543 | 569 | 346.9 |
| 2023 | #560 | 535 | 333.4 |
| 2024 | #510 | 601 | 370.9 |
| 2025 | #526 | 572 | 355.9 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Virginia.
- Nancy
- Susannah
- Martha
- Helen
- Joan
- Judith
- Susanna
- Wendy
- Jean
- Gloria
- Georgina
- Lois
- Ruth
- Sally
- Catharine
- Dorothy
- Mary
- Marjorie
- Anne
- Dora
Virginia on lists
Famous Virginias
- Virginia "Dawson" Biondi
King Philip Middle School student
- Virginia Bourbon del Monte
daughter of the Prince di San Faustino
- Saint Virginia Centurione Bracelli
Italian noblewoman
- (Adeline) Virginia Woolf
English novelist
- Virginia G. Madsen
American actress
- (Eliza) Virginia Capers
American actress
- Virginia Williams
American actress
- Virginia Katherine McMath
birth name of American actress Ginger Rogers
- Virginia Esther Hamilton
American children's author
- Virginia Satir
American author and psychotherapist
- Virginia Hensley
birth name of American singer Patsy Cline
- Virginia Dare
first child born in America to English parents
- Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe
cousin and wife of writer Edgar Allen Poe
- Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Carlotta Antonietta Teresa Maria Oldoini
Countess of Castiglione, Italian mistress of Napoleon III of France
- Virginia Zucchi
Italian ballerina
- Virginia A. McKenna
English actress
- (Sarah) Virginia Wade
English tennis player
- Virginia Gamba aka Sister Maria Celeste
daughter of astronomer Galileo
- Virginia O'Hanlon
American girl who wrote to "The Baltimore Sun"
- Mary Virginia Johnson
American sex researcher of Masters and Johnson
- Virginia Dell Clinton Kelley
mother of U.S. President Bill Clinton
- Virginia Mann
younger daughter of photographer Sally Mann
- Virginia "Ginny" Thrasher
American sport shooter
- Virginia Zamperini
sister of WWII POW Louis Zamperini
- Virginia Elizabeth Gardner
American actress
- Virginia Bocelli (b. 2012)
daughter of Italian classical tenor, recording artist, and singer,songwriter Andrea Bocelli
- George Virginia Morgan (b. 2018)
daughter of actors Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton
- Virginia McLaurin
famous black American for living over 100 years old
- Virginia Willow (b. 2018)
daughter of actress Haley Bennett and director Joe Wright
Virginia in pop culture
- Virginia Polytech University
site of the deadliest school shooting in US history
- Virginia Mosby
Ted's mom on TV's "How I Met Your Mother"
- Virginia "Pepper" Potts
character in Marvel Universe
- Virginia Brush
character in movie 'The Strawberry Blonde'
- Virginia Lewis
main character in the miniseries 'The 10th Kingdom'
- Virginia Chance
character on TV's 'Raising Hope'
- Virginia "Ginny" Johnson
from Showtime's "Masters of Sex"
- Virginia Ito
character in "The Glass Scientists"
- Virginia Doyle
mother in the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray
- 'Yes
Virginia', animated TV special inspired by Virginia O'Hanlon
- Virginia
from song "Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel
- 'Meet Virginia'
song by Train
- 'Leave Virginia Alone'
song by Rod Stewart, Tom Petty
- 'Virginia'
song by Tori Amos
- "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
" play by Edward Albee
- Virginia and West Virginia
U.S. states
- "My name's Virginia
Virgin for short but not for long." (from 'Something Happened' by Joseph Heller)
- Virginia Conly
Elsie Dinsmore's niece in the Elsie Dinsmore series
- Virginia au Augustus "Mustang"
a main character from Pierce Brown's Red Rising Trilogy
- Virginia Crowe
from Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes series.
- Virginia
one of the main four characters from Platoon of Power Squadron
- Virginia “Ginny” Miller
from Netflix’s “Ginny & Georgia”