Vandana (वन्दना) is from the Sanskrit vand (to praise, revere) — meaning "reverence, praise, salutation." Vandana Shiva (born 1952) — Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and ecofeminist — among the most influential global voices opposing corporate agribusiness, GMO seeds, and water privatization. Founded Navdanya ("nine seeds") in 1991 to preserve native seed diversity — has saved 5,000+ indigenous Indian crop varieties.
Vandana does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Vandana reduce to 3, The Communicator. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.