Fun Facts About the Name Vail
- 547 babies named Vail: U.S. records list 547 babies given the name Vail from 1880 through 2025. Even 113 boys received the name Vail - about 1 boy for every 4 girls.
What Does the Name Vail Mean?
Vail is an English surname used as a given name, and its established meaning is "valley." It comes from a Middle English word for a valley, vale, which was borrowed from Old French val and ultimately from Latin vallis, also meaning "valley." As a topographic surname, it originally identified someone who lived in or near a valley rather than describing a personal quality.
The spelling Vail is an English surname form of this valley word, and the given name inherits the surname's literal geographic sense.
Vail Name History & Origins
Vail began as an English surname rather than as a traditional given name. It belongs to the large group of topographic surnames that described where a person lived; a family called Vail would have been associated with a valley or with a place named from the word for valley. The surname form is English, while the underlying noun came into English from Old French.
Surnames of this kind became hereditary in England in the late Middle Ages. As a first name, Vail is a transferred use of the surname, so its history as a given name is separate from the medieval development of the surname.
How Popular is the Name Vail?
Vail has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2018. Its best rank was #3,102 in 2018.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #6,307 | 19 | 0.0012% |
| 2024 | #4,997 | 27 | 0.0017% |
| 2023 | #8,941 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2022 | #5,965 | 21 | 0.0013% |
| 2021 | #4,235 | 34 | 0.0021% |
| 2020 | #4,159 | 34 | 0.0021% |
| 2019 | #4,645 | 30 | 0.0018% |
| 2018 | #3,102 | 53 | 0.0031% |
| 2017 | #4,208 | 35 | 0.0020% |
| 2016 | #3,373 | 48 | 0.0027% |
| 2015 | #3,385 | 48 | 0.0027% |
| 2014 | #16,384 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2013 | #13,073 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2012 | #14,880 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2009 | #15,146 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2008 | #12,523 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2005 | #16,343 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2004 | #8,227 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 1998 | #14,028 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1970 | #9,293 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1952 | #6,338 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #11,895 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 2022 | #12,212 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2021 | #10,711 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2020 | #8,005 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2018 | #12,044 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2017 | #12,137 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2013 | #13,931 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2007 | #14,278 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 2006 | #11,968 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2002 | #12,390 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1991 | #8,193 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1954 | #3,435 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1946 | #3,151 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1932 | #4,241 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1922 | #4,276 | 6 | 0.0006% |
| 1920 | #4,939 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1918 | #4,763 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1917 | #4,550 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1915 | #4,352 | 5 | 0.0006% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Vail Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You are fixed in your opinions, firm in your friendships and square in your dealings with others. You are an excellent worker. Since you are both possessive and emotional, you can be either very practical or very impractical and unpredictable. Your dual nature needs to become steadfast. You are the marrying kind. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Vail's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Vail's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.