Valerie
Valerie was given to 2,221 girls in 2025, #127 among girls’ names; 273,922 Americans have been recorded with it since 1884 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 240,000 Americans named Valerie and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 50 years old and half are between 30 and 65.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Valerie by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Valerie mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Valerie is “a female given name from French [in turn from Latin].”
From French Valérie, from Latin Valeria. Doublet of Valeria.
/ˈvæləɹi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Valerie?
#127 among girls’ names, 2025
Valerie rose from #171 in 2015 to #127 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 1.1 to 1.4 per 1,000.
7,318 babies in 1959, the peak
Valerie peaked in 1959, when 7,318 babies were given it (7,302 girls, #60 among girls’ names). The 2,221 births of 2025 are 30% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,221 | #127 | 1.4 |
| 2024 | 1,991 | #147 | 1.2 |
| 2023 | 1,955 | #144 | 1.2 |
| 2022 | 1,986 | #148 | 1.2 |
| 2021 | 1,840 | #155 | 1.1 |
| 2020 | 1,882 | #144 | 1.2 |
| 2019 | 1,890 | #151 | 1.1 |
| 2018 | 1,802 | #156 | 1.1 |
| 2017 | 1,824 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 2016 | 1,966 | #160 | 1.1 |
Every recorded year (140)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,880 | #171 | 1.1 |
| 2014 | 1,886 | #176 | 1.1 |
| 2013 | 1,880 | #169 | 1.1 |
| 2012 | 1,863 | #169 | 1.1 |
| 2011 | 1,957 | #159 | 1.1 |
| 2010 | 2,065 | #149 | 1.2 |
| 2009 | 2,321 | #138 | 1.3 |
| 2008 | 2,505 | #135 | 1.3 |
| 2007 | 2,424 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 2006 | 2,752 | #127 | 1.4 |
| 2005 | 2,035 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 2004 | 1,905 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 2003 | 1,914 | #171 | 1.0 |
| 2002 | 2,107 | #155 | 1.2 |
| 2001 | 1,982 | #165 | 1.1 |
| 2000 | 2,017 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1999 | 2,038 | #159 | 1.1 |
| 1998 | 2,142 | #148 | 1.2 |
| 1997 | 2,224 | #143 | 1.3 |
| 1996 | 2,082 | #154 | 1.2 |
| 1995 | 2,183 | #149 | 1.2 |
| 1994 | 2,010 | #159 | 1.1 |
| 1993 | 2,175 | #144 | 1.2 |
| 1992 | 2,350 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 1991 | 2,380 | #135 | 1.3 |
| 1990 | 2,428 | #129 | 1.3 |
| 1989 | 2,562 | #117 | 1.4 |
| 1988 | 2,768 | #103 | 1.6 |
| 1987 | 2,964 | #93 | 1.7 |
| 1986 | 3,618 | #76 | 2.1 |
| 1985 | 3,881 | #71 | 2.3 |
| 1984 | 3,722 | #76 | 2.2 |
| 1983 | 3,901 | #74 | 2.3 |
| 1982 | 3,989 | #75 | 2.4 |
| 1981 | 3,611 | #89 | 2.2 |
| 1980 | 3,613 | #85 | 2.2 |
| 1979 | 3,407 | #89 | 2.1 |
| 1978 | 3,299 | #92 | 2.2 |
| 1977 | 3,266 | #86 | 2.1 |
| 1976 | 3,386 | #83 | 2.3 |
| 1975 | 3,227 | #92 | 2.2 |
| 1974 | 3,181 | #93 | 2.2 |
| 1973 | 3,042 | #96 | 2.1 |
| 1972 | 3,193 | #100 | 2.1 |
| 1971 | 3,679 | #102 | 2.2 |
| 1970 | 4,130 | #97 | 2.4 |
| 1969 | 4,300 | #85 | 2.5 |
| 1968 | 4,550 | #77 | 2.8 |
| 1967 | 4,757 | #73 | 2.9 |
| 1966 | 4,816 | #74 | 2.8 |
| 1965 | 5,648 | #67 | 3.2 |
| 1964 | 6,616 | #66 | 3.5 |
| 1963 | 6,172 | #69 | 3.2 |
| 1962 | 6,335 | #67 | 3.2 |
| 1961 | 6,677 | #67 | 3.3 |
| 1960 | 6,717 | #65 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 7,302 | #60 | 3.6 |
| 1958 | 6,920 | #64 | 3.4 |
| 1957 | 6,231 | #76 | 3.0 |
| 1956 | 5,909 | #80 | 2.9 |
| 1955 | 5,512 | #80 | 2.8 |
| 1954 | 4,917 | #87 | 2.5 |
| 1953 | 4,591 | #88 | 2.4 |
| 1952 | 4,263 | #87 | 2.3 |
| 1951 | 3,559 | #100 | 2.0 |
| 1950 | 3,026 | #116 | 1.8 |
| 1949 | 3,052 | #108 | 1.8 |
| 1948 | 2,132 | #135 | 1.3 |
| 1947 | 1,553 | #184 | 0.88 |
| 1946 | 1,440 | #181 | 0.92 |
| 1945 | 1,079 | #189 | 0.83 |
| 1944 | 915 | #216 | 0.69 |
| 1943 | 955 | #212 | 0.68 |
| 1942 | 1,017 | #200 | 0.75 |
| 1941 | 752 | #229 | 0.62 |
| 1940 | 799 | #214 | 0.70 |
| 1939 | 622 | #251 | 0.57 |
| 1938 | 551 | #267 | 0.50 |
| 1937 | 494 | #279 | 0.46 |
| 1936 | 453 | #283 | 0.44 |
| 1935 | 486 | #276 | 0.46 |
| 1934 | 319 | #354 | 0.31 |
| 1933 | 293 | #374 | 0.29 |
| 1932 | 276 | #394 | 0.26 |
| 1931 | 244 | #413 | 0.23 |
| 1930 | 222 | #452 | 0.20 |
| 1929 | 180 | #504 | 0.16 |
| 1928 | 179 | #518 | 0.16 |
| 1927 | 195 | #500 | 0.16 |
| 1926 | 171 | #535 | 0.14 |
| 1925 | 151 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1924 | 172 | #558 | 0.14 |
| 1923 | 155 | #580 | 0.13 |
| 1922 | 147 | #594 | 0.12 |
| 1921 | 190 | #516 | 0.15 |
| 1920 | 170 | #546 | 0.14 |
| 1919 | 171 | #521 | 0.15 |
| 1918 | 202 | #472 | 0.17 |
| 1917 | 182 | #489 | 0.17 |
| 1916 | 179 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1915 | 171 | #473 | 0.17 |
| 1914 | 103 | #552 | 0.14 |
| 1913 | 116 | #467 | 0.19 |
| 1912 | 87 | #520 | 0.16 |
| 1911 | 58 | #563 | 0.14 |
| 1910 | 45 | #637 | 0.11 |
| 1909 | 47 | #565 | 0.14 |
| 1908 | 28 | #741 | 0.08 |
| 1907 | 31 | #690 | 0.10 |
| 1906 | 25 | #741 | 0.08 |
| 1905 | 25 | #730 | 0.09 |
| 1904 | 27 | #680 | 0.10 |
| 1903 | 17 | #860 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 19 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1901 | 19 | #767 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 21 | #830 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 12 | #978 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 21 | #748 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 16 | #824 | 0.07 |
| 1896 | 11 | #1,044 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 19 | #743 | 0.08 |
| 1894 | 17 | #741 | 0.08 |
| 1893 | 10 | #1,014 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 11 | #952 | 0.05 |
| 1891 | 12 | #836 | 0.06 |
| 1890 | 12 | #822 | 0.06 |
| 1889 | 12 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,460 | 0.03 |
| 1887 | 7 | #1,030 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 8 | #847 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Valerie a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Valerie has been given almost only to girls: 693 boys in 140 years of records.
Girls and boys named Valerie: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Valerie, and how old are they?
240,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 273,922 Americans ever recorded as Valerie. The median Valerie alive today is 50 years old; half are between 30 and 65.
The 2020 Census counted 226,036 people named Valerie (225,704 women and girls, 332 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 237,638 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3,820 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 74,700 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 57,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 45,400 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 33,900 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 24,900 |
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 Valerie born?
The states with the most babies named Valerie are California, New York and Texas, with 35% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 43,793 | #97 | 1.5× |
| New York | 25,909 | #125 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 23,583 | #131 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 14,668 | #99 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 13,514 | #138 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 10,967 | #153 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 10,566 | #78 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 9,781 | #142 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 9,636 | #107 | 1.2× |
| Massachusetts | 6,208 | #123 | 0.8× |
Where Valerie is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Valerie is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 1.5 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 Valerie 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 393,406 babies since 1880, Valerie is the most given (70% of them). In 2025 it was given to 2,221 of their 4,531 babies (49%), 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 Valerie
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 Valerie and names like it
- Compare Valerie and ValeriaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sValerie peaked in 1959.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Valerie since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Valerie: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Valerie.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Valerie alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with VMost given first.