The Vanto was a human family from the Wild Space planet of Lysatra consisting of Eli N. Vanto, his mother, father and grandparents. During the waning years of the Galactic Republic and the age of the Galactic Empire, the family operated a shipping company for three generations and owned multiple starships rigged with beckon calls for their shipping operations. In the early years of the Empire, Eli Vanto joined the Imperial Navy with hopes of applying his skills from the family's shipping business to service as an Imperial officer. Vanto, however, was assigned as aide to Lieutenant Thrawn, a position which stagnated his career and disappointed his parents. Later, after Vanto secretly defected to the Chiss Ascendancy, his parents had to bear the stigma of his disappearance that was later revealed to be treason. However, Thrawn claimed that Vanto's transfer to the Chiss had been personally authorized by the Emperor himself. If true, that would mean Vanto had in fact not committed treason.
The Vanto family first appeared in the 2017 novel Thrawn by Timothy Zahn and the book's audiobook version of the same name. A member of the family, Eli Vanto, was first pictured in the first issue of Star Wars: Thrawn, a 2018 comic adaptation of the novel illustrated by Luke Ross.