Valen
Valen is given to both girls and boys: 26 girls and 105 boys were given it in 2025 (#5,087 among girls’ names and #1,619 among boys’, #2,957 among all names counting both); 1,880 Americans have been recorded with it since 1951 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,850 Americans named Valen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 4 and 19.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Valen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Valen?
#1,619 among boys’ names, 2025
Valen rose from #2,561 in 2015 to #1,619 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 25.6 to 61.5 per million.
131 babies in 2025, the peak
Valen peaked in 2025, when 131 babies were given it (105 boys, #1,619 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 100 boys.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26 | #5,087 | 105 | #1,619 |
| 2024 | 24 | #5,427 | 100 | #1,684 |
| 2023 | 22 | #5,730 | 102 | #1,680 |
| 2022 | 25 | #5,292 | 83 | #1,905 |
| 2021 | 16 | #7,232 | 77 | #1,959 |
| 2020 | 10 | #10,192 | 67 | #2,111 |
| 2019 | 21 | #5,967 | 69 | #2,108 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,498 | 74 | #1,991 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,418 | 73 | #1,974 |
| 2016 | 15 | #7,955 | 64 | #2,164 |
Every recorded year (47)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 13 | #8,904 | 49 | #2,561 |
| 2014 | 10 | #10,895 | 54 | #2,397 |
| 2013 | 7 | #14,497 | 39 | #2,949 |
| 2012 | 15 | #8,189 | 48 | #2,591 |
| 2011 | 5 | #19,408 | 28 | #3,786 |
| 2010 | 9 | #12,208 | 32 | #3,446 |
| 2009 | 8 | #13,620 | 37 | #3,158 |
| 2008 | 8 | #13,746 | 26 | #4,030 |
| 2007 | under 5 | 25 | #4,117 | |
| 2006 | under 5 | 20 | #4,663 | |
| 2005 | under 5 | 21 | #4,315 | |
| 2004 | 10 | #10,642 | 18 | #4,777 |
| 2003 | under 5 | 17 | #4,798 | |
| 2002 | 6 | #15,305 | 15 | #5,112 |
| 2001 | 7 | #13,439 | 13 | #5,646 |
| 2000 | 6 | #14,936 | 13 | #5,558 |
| 1999 | 9 | #10,299 | 9 | #7,093 |
| 1998 | 7 | #12,369 | 10 | #6,282 |
| 1997 | under 5 | 11 | #5,621 | |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,775 | 8 | #7,094 |
| 1995 | 7 | #11,728 | 7 | #7,751 |
| 1994 | 10 | #8,765 | 6 | #8,746 |
| 1993 | 8 | #10,551 | 7 | #7,584 |
| 1992 | 8 | #10,433 | 10 | #5,627 |
| 1991 | 15 | #6,234 | 6 | #8,186 |
| 1990 | 9 | #9,207 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 17 | #5,272 | 5 | #9,153 |
| 1988 | 13 | #6,264 | 6 | #7,218 |
| 1987 | 6 | #11,250 | 5 | #8,078 |
| 1986 | 18 | #4,531 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 12 | #6,019 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 16 | #4,732 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 18 | #4,280 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 15 | #4,935 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,306 | 6 | #6,224 |
| 1959 | under 5 | 7 | #3,596 | |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,367 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Valen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,880 Americans recorded as Valen, 27% are girls and 73% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Valen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Valen, and how old are they?
1,850 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,880 Americans ever recorded as Valen. The median Valen alive today is 10 years old; half are between 4 and 19.
The 2020 Census counted 1,293 people named Valen (434 women and girls, 859 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,226 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 10 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 246 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 427 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,170 |
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 Valen born?
The states with the most babies named Valen are California, New York and Texas, with 81% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 10 | #1,677 | 0.7× |
| New York | 8 | #1,397 | 0.2× |
| Texas | 7 | #2,265 | 0.6× |
| Minnesota | 6 | #801 | 0.3× |
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 Valen 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 2,764 babies since 1880, Valen is the most given (68% of them). In 2025 it was given to 131 of their 169 babies (78%), again the most given.
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 Valen
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 Valen and names like it
- Compare Valen and VallenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sValen peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Valen since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Valen.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Valen alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with VMost given first.