Orval
Orval was last recorded in 1995, when 7 babies were given it; 7,928 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1995 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,120 Americans named Orval and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (14% of everyone recorded); the median is 75 years old and half are between 65 and 83.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Orval by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Orval?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #7,571, in 1995; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
304 babies in 1918, the peak
Orval peaked in 1918, when 304 boys were given it, #328 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 7 | #7,571 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 5 | #9,760 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 6 | #8,170 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,969 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 6 | #6,720 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,581 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 5 | #7,031 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 5 | #7,006 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 5 | #6,993 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 7 | #5,345 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (110)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 8 | #4,723 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 7 | #4,903 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,468 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,208 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 7 | #4,655 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 9 | #3,753 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 11 | #3,158 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 8 | #3,871 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 16 | #2,442 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 17 | #2,265 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 17 | #2,104 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 9 | #3,035 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 13 | #2,317 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 19 | #1,796 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 24 | #1,615 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 25 | #1,602 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 20 | #1,819 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 17 | #2,011 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 24 | #1,675 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 44 | #1,187 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 33 | #1,379 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 32 | #1,389 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 33 | #1,380 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 39 | #1,227 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 59 | #984 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 45 | #1,117 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 48 | #1,053 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 53 | #992 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 62 | #895 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 57 | #914 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 62 | #875 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 69 | #821 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 73 | #811 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 79 | #742 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 82 | #667 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 82 | #693 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 97 | #647 | 0.07 |
| 1942 | 120 | #564 | 0.09 |
| 1941 | 87 | #655 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 100 | #595 | 0.09 |
| 1939 | 87 | #633 | 0.08 |
| 1938 | 93 | #618 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 101 | #573 | 0.09 |
| 1936 | 103 | #570 | 0.10 |
| 1935 | 127 | #511 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 130 | #510 | 0.13 |
| 1933 | 120 | #517 | 0.12 |
| 1932 | 136 | #492 | 0.13 |
| 1931 | 142 | #476 | 0.14 |
| 1930 | 174 | #448 | 0.16 |
| 1929 | 178 | #446 | 0.17 |
| 1928 | 152 | #492 | 0.14 |
| 1927 | 206 | #423 | 0.18 |
| 1926 | 230 | #389 | 0.21 |
| 1925 | 224 | #399 | 0.20 |
| 1924 | 242 | #386 | 0.21 |
| 1923 | 219 | #406 | 0.20 |
| 1922 | 272 | #362 | 0.25 |
| 1921 | 267 | #373 | 0.24 |
| 1920 | 294 | #338 | 0.28 |
| 1919 | 270 | #344 | 0.28 |
| 1918 | 304 | #328 | 0.30 |
| 1917 | 282 | #323 | 0.30 |
| 1916 | 280 | #311 | 0.31 |
| 1915 | 258 | #329 | 0.30 |
| 1914 | 192 | #333 | 0.29 |
| 1913 | 165 | #313 | 0.32 |
| 1912 | 141 | #308 | 0.33 |
| 1911 | 55 | #384 | 0.24 |
| 1910 | 57 | #327 | 0.29 |
| 1909 | 34 | #433 | 0.21 |
| 1908 | 49 | #315 | 0.32 |
| 1907 | 51 | #300 | 0.35 |
| 1906 | 28 | #418 | 0.21 |
| 1905 | 36 | #345 | 0.27 |
| 1904 | 29 | #386 | 0.23 |
| 1903 | 31 | #351 | 0.26 |
| 1902 | 42 | #297 | 0.34 |
| 1901 | 29 | #344 | 0.27 |
| 1900 | 36 | #373 | 0.24 |
| 1899 | 26 | #359 | 0.24 |
| 1898 | 20 | #466 | 0.16 |
| 1897 | 26 | #373 | 0.23 |
| 1896 | 19 | #477 | 0.16 |
| 1895 | 14 | #574 | 0.12 |
| 1894 | 19 | #456 | 0.16 |
| 1893 | 27 | #345 | 0.24 |
| 1892 | 31 | #340 | 0.25 |
| 1891 | 15 | #467 | 0.15 |
| 1890 | 26 | #348 | 0.23 |
| 1889 | 19 | #426 | 0.17 |
| 1888 | 14 | #547 | 0.12 |
| 1887 | 13 | #507 | 0.13 |
| 1886 | 15 | #486 | 0.14 |
| 1885 | 17 | #455 | 0.16 |
| 1884 | 16 | #482 | 0.14 |
| 1883 | 8 | #708 | 0.08 |
| 1882 | 6 | #917 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 11 | #555 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 22 | #372 | 0.20 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Orval a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Orval has been given almost only to boys: 12 girls in 110 years of records.
Girls and boys named Orval: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Orval, and how old are they?
1,120 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 14% of the 7,928 Americans ever recorded as Orval. The median Orval alive today is 75 years old; half are between 65 and 83.
The 2020 Census counted 1,588 people named Orval (9 women and girls, 1,579 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,577 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 348 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 545 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 167 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 49 |
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 Orval born?
The states with the most babies named Orval are Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma and Missouri are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 562 | not ranked | 3.8× |
| Missouri | 424 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Illinois | 401 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 373 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Indiana | 353 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Iowa | 327 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Kansas | 317 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| West Virginia | 308 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Michigan | 237 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 210 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Orval is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Orval is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 3.8 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 boys’ 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 Orval 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 11,379 babies since 1880, Orval is the most given (70% 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 Orval
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 Orval and names like it
- Compare Orval and OrvilBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sOrval peaked in 1918.
- Oklahoma’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Orval since 1910.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Orval.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Orval alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with OMost given first.