Belva
Belva was given to 5 girls in 2025, #15,300 among girls’ names; 7,960 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,030 Americans named Belva and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (26% of everyone recorded); the median is 76 years old and half are between 68 and 84.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Belva by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Belva?
#15,300 among girls’ names, 2025
Belva entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #15,300 in 2025.
184 babies in 1927, the peak
Belva peaked in 1927, when 184 girls were given it, #519 among girls’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #15,300 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #18,035 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 5 | #17,529 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 5 | #13,778 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 6 | #10,989 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,122 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 5 | #10,652 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 5 | #10,571 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 12 | #5,575 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,778 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (108)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 8 | #7,001 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 11 | #5,557 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 10 | #5,626 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #5,554 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 10 | #5,389 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 10 | #5,217 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 14 | #4,104 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 13 | #4,322 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 16 | #3,728 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 16 | #3,471 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 24 | #2,546 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 17 | #3,096 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 21 | #2,673 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 23 | #2,547 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 30 | #2,200 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 42 | #1,790 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 37 | #1,891 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 46 | #1,667 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 51 | #1,560 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 63 | #1,348 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 51 | #1,498 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 72 | #1,237 | 0.04 |
| 1956 | 64 | #1,297 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 84 | #1,094 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 65 | #1,228 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 97 | #967 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 95 | #967 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 78 | #1,050 | 0.04 |
| 1950 | 97 | #899 | 0.06 |
| 1949 | 92 | #926 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 88 | #924 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 99 | #884 | 0.06 |
| 1946 | 117 | #756 | 0.07 |
| 1945 | 121 | #674 | 0.09 |
| 1944 | 90 | #806 | 0.07 |
| 1943 | 107 | #752 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 144 | #624 | 0.11 |
| 1941 | 159 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1940 | 128 | #618 | 0.11 |
| 1939 | 153 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1938 | 162 | #534 | 0.15 |
| 1937 | 162 | #516 | 0.15 |
| 1936 | 150 | #530 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 145 | #535 | 0.14 |
| 1934 | 151 | #526 | 0.14 |
| 1933 | 161 | #502 | 0.16 |
| 1932 | 160 | #515 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 162 | #510 | 0.15 |
| 1930 | 170 | #515 | 0.15 |
| 1929 | 146 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1928 | 166 | #540 | 0.14 |
| 1927 | 184 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1926 | 170 | #536 | 0.14 |
| 1925 | 147 | #598 | 0.12 |
| 1924 | 161 | #578 | 0.13 |
| 1923 | 172 | #550 | 0.14 |
| 1922 | 161 | #564 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 178 | #535 | 0.14 |
| 1920 | 165 | #559 | 0.14 |
| 1919 | 165 | #532 | 0.15 |
| 1918 | 169 | #541 | 0.15 |
| 1917 | 156 | #534 | 0.14 |
| 1916 | 170 | #494 | 0.16 |
| 1915 | 139 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1914 | 130 | #485 | 0.17 |
| 1913 | 97 | #516 | 0.16 |
| 1912 | 106 | #461 | 0.19 |
| 1911 | 61 | #536 | 0.15 |
| 1910 | 72 | #473 | 0.18 |
| 1909 | 49 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1908 | 55 | #488 | 0.16 |
| 1907 | 69 | #431 | 0.22 |
| 1906 | 44 | #517 | 0.15 |
| 1905 | 59 | #439 | 0.20 |
| 1904 | 38 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1903 | 37 | #528 | 0.14 |
| 1902 | 52 | #429 | 0.20 |
| 1901 | 41 | #467 | 0.17 |
| 1900 | 61 | #427 | 0.20 |
| 1899 | 37 | #480 | 0.16 |
| 1898 | 35 | #528 | 0.14 |
| 1897 | 28 | #570 | 0.12 |
| 1896 | 34 | #506 | 0.14 |
| 1895 | 36 | #488 | 0.15 |
| 1894 | 33 | #497 | 0.15 |
| 1893 | 24 | #574 | 0.11 |
| 1892 | 27 | #526 | 0.13 |
| 1891 | 23 | #542 | 0.12 |
| 1890 | 42 | #386 | 0.22 |
| 1889 | 31 | #431 | 0.17 |
| 1888 | 66 | #289 | 0.37 |
| 1887 | 27 | #424 | 0.18 |
| 1886 | 23 | #455 | 0.16 |
| 1885 | 30 | #373 | 0.23 |
| 1884 | 66 | #234 | 0.51 |
| 1883 | 5 | #937 | 0.04 |
| 1882 | 5 | #922 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 6 | #747 | 0.07 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Belva a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Belva has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 108 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Belva: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Belva, and how old are they?
2,030 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 26% of the 7,960 Americans ever recorded as Belva. The median Belva alive today is 76 years old; half are between 68 and 84.
The 2020 Census counted 2,595 people named Belva (2,585 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,713 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 733 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,030 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 208 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 27 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Belva born?
The states with the most babies named Belva are Texas, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910; West Virginia is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 404 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| West Virginia | 397 | not ranked | 3.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 327 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Kentucky | 261 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Ohio | 231 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 217 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Oklahoma | 215 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Iowa | 168 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Missouri | 149 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Wisconsin | 145 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Belva is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Belva is most over-represented in West Virginia: since 1910 it was given 3.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Belva with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 8,725 babies since 1880, Belva is the most given (91% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Belva
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Belva and names like it
- Compare Belva and BelviaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sBelva peaked in 1927.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Belva since 1910.
- The top names of 1927The year the most babies were named Belva.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Belva alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.