Explore the Family Name Vasilev

The meaning of Vasilev

1. Bulgarian and Macedonian: patronymic from the personal name Vasil, an equivalent of Greek Basileios ‘royal’ (see Basil). It is formed with the possessive suffix -ev. 2. Russian and Belorussian: variant transliteration of Vasilyev.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Vasilev in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Vasilev has markedly increased between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 146,011 in terms of prevalence but jumped to a rank of 61,123 by the year 2010 — a change of 58.14 percent. The number of individuals with the Vasilev surname also rose from 104 in 2000 to 329 in 2010, representing an increase of 216.35 percent. The proportion of people named Vasilev per 100,000 went up as well, moving from 0.04 to 0.11, a hike of 175 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#146,011	#61,123	58.14%
Count	104	329	216.35%
Proportion per 100k	0.04	0.11	175%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Vasilev

The ethnicity distribution of the Vasilev surname underwent changes during the same period, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. While the percentage of Vasilevs identifying as White saw an increase of 8.29 percent (moving from 90.38 percent in 2000 to 97.87 percent in 2010), those identifying as belonging to two or more races decreased from 6.73 percent to zero. Additionally, a new ethnic identity emerged among Vasilevs in 2010 that wasn't present in 2000 - Hispanic, accounting for 1.52 percent of the total. However, the proportions of Vasilevs identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native remained unchanged at zero.

	2000	2010	Change
White	90.38%	97.87%	8.29%
Hispanic	0%	1.52%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	6.73%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%