Velda
Velda was last recorded in 2020, when 5 babies were given it; 7,559 Americans have been recorded with it between 1895 and 2020 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,620 Americans named Velda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (35% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 65 and 80.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Velda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Velda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,346, in 2020; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
191 babies in 1920, the peak
Velda peaked in 1920, when 191 girls were given it, #502 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 5 | #17,346 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 5 | #19,416 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,775 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 5 | #16,829 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 5 | #15,703 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 7 | #10,804 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 7 | #10,346 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 11 | #6,770 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 10 | #7,112 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 13 | #5,668 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 7 | #8,987 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 13 | #5,521 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 13 | #5,562 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 14 | #5,237 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 16 | #4,619 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 15 | #4,675 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 10 | #6,326 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 15 | #4,355 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 21 | #3,395 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 10 | #5,763 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 22 | #3,118 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 15 | #4,085 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 32 | #2,422 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 29 | #2,572 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 27 | #2,580 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 28 | #2,357 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 35 | #2,010 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 38 | #1,880 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 52 | #1,559 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 57 | #1,516 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 64 | #1,402 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 76 | #1,277 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 87 | #1,191 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 118 | #990 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 135 | #899 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 126 | #920 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 139 | #863 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 156 | #796 | 0.08 |
| 1955 | 164 | #742 | 0.08 |
| 1954 | 130 | #825 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 125 | #830 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 104 | #910 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 92 | #975 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 89 | #956 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 66 | #1,118 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 89 | #921 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 94 | #918 | 0.05 |
| 1946 | 78 | #944 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 76 | #868 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 71 | #916 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 102 | #775 | 0.07 |
| 1942 | 105 | #738 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 98 | #712 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 103 | #685 | 0.09 |
| 1939 | 116 | #632 | 0.11 |
| 1938 | 126 | #610 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 152 | #542 | 0.14 |
| 1936 | 131 | #577 | 0.13 |
| 1935 | 142 | #539 | 0.14 |
| 1934 | 129 | #567 | 0.12 |
| 1933 | 169 | #489 | 0.17 |
| 1932 | 154 | #531 | 0.14 |
| 1931 | 160 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1930 | 160 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1929 | 161 | #536 | 0.14 |
| 1928 | 175 | #526 | 0.15 |
| 1927 | 176 | #537 | 0.15 |
| 1926 | 141 | #598 | 0.12 |
| 1925 | 191 | #510 | 0.16 |
| 1924 | 155 | #596 | 0.12 |
| 1923 | 180 | #528 | 0.15 |
| 1922 | 131 | #642 | 0.11 |
| 1921 | 177 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1920 | 191 | #502 | 0.16 |
| 1919 | 168 | #530 | 0.15 |
| 1918 | 175 | #528 | 0.15 |
| 1917 | 144 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1916 | 125 | #604 | 0.12 |
| 1915 | 153 | #502 | 0.16 |
| 1914 | 135 | #474 | 0.18 |
| 1913 | 74 | #604 | 0.12 |
| 1912 | 70 | #581 | 0.13 |
| 1911 | 38 | #713 | 0.09 |
| 1910 | 47 | #617 | 0.12 |
| 1909 | 34 | #689 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 35 | #662 | 0.10 |
| 1907 | 31 | #691 | 0.10 |
| 1906 | 28 | #702 | 0.09 |
| 1905 | 24 | #756 | 0.08 |
| 1904 | 19 | #851 | 0.07 |
| 1903 | 24 | #692 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 13 | #1,016 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 20 | #745 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 14 | #1,051 | 0.05 |
| 1899 | 15 | #873 | 0.06 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,537 | 0.03 |
| 1896 | 13 | #948 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,579 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Velda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Velda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 98 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Velda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Velda, and how old are they?
2,620 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 35% of the 7,559 Americans ever recorded as Velda. The median Velda alive today is 71 years old; half are between 65 and 80.
The 2020 Census counted 3,304 people named Velda (3,290 women and girls, 14 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,281 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 | 598 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,550 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 348 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 83 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 17 |
| 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 Velda born?
The states with the most babies named Velda are Kansas, Texas and Missouri, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kansas and Missouri are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas | 413 | not ranked | 4.1× |
| Texas | 404 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Missouri | 376 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Illinois | 371 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Oklahoma | 370 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| California | 295 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Iowa | 293 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Arkansas | 238 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Nebraska | 146 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Kentucky | 138 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Velda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Velda is most over-represented in Kansas: since 1910 it was given 4.1 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 Velda 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 7,681 babies since 1880, Velda is the most given (98% 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 Velda
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 Velda and names like it
- Compare Velda and VeledaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sVelda peaked in 1920.
- Kansas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Velda since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Velda.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Velda alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with VMost given first.