Velva
Velva was last recorded in 1983, when 7 babies were given it; 4,274 Americans have been recorded with it between 1888 and 1983 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,040 Americans named Velva and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (24% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 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 Velva by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Velva?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,989, in 1983; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
139 babies in 1916, the peak
Velva peaked in 1916, when 139 girls were given it, #568 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 7 | #8,989 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 5 | #12,265 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 7 | #9,075 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 10 | #6,679 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #11,276 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 9 | #6,590 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 11 | #5,501 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 5 | #10,198 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 6 | #8,392 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 14 | #4,292 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (94)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 10 | #5,527 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 17 | #3,709 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 12 | #4,409 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 16 | #3,449 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 16 | #3,328 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 24 | #2,514 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 20 | #2,828 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 23 | #2,669 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 27 | #2,358 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 21 | #2,736 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 34 | #2,034 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 32 | #2,056 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 35 | #1,916 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 43 | #1,655 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 36 | #1,839 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 27 | #2,149 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 36 | #1,769 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 32 | #1,870 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 44 | #1,488 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 50 | #1,384 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 32 | #1,735 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 43 | #1,409 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 53 | #1,263 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 54 | #1,248 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 49 | #1,314 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 38 | #1,436 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 51 | #1,111 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 43 | #1,222 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 48 | #1,178 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 51 | #1,114 | 0.04 |
| 1941 | 54 | #1,005 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 64 | #905 | 0.06 |
| 1939 | 59 | #924 | 0.05 |
| 1938 | 55 | #966 | 0.05 |
| 1937 | 74 | #803 | 0.07 |
| 1936 | 60 | #886 | 0.06 |
| 1935 | 71 | #811 | 0.07 |
| 1934 | 73 | #790 | 0.07 |
| 1933 | 77 | #755 | 0.08 |
| 1932 | 83 | #744 | 0.08 |
| 1931 | 69 | #829 | 0.06 |
| 1930 | 76 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1929 | 55 | #980 | 0.05 |
| 1928 | 72 | #861 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 109 | #701 | 0.09 |
| 1926 | 83 | #799 | 0.07 |
| 1925 | 84 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1924 | 102 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1923 | 104 | #717 | 0.09 |
| 1922 | 102 | #722 | 0.08 |
| 1921 | 122 | #671 | 0.10 |
| 1920 | 118 | #669 | 0.10 |
| 1919 | 115 | #649 | 0.10 |
| 1918 | 126 | #631 | 0.11 |
| 1917 | 108 | #656 | 0.10 |
| 1916 | 139 | #568 | 0.13 |
| 1915 | 123 | #588 | 0.13 |
| 1914 | 93 | #593 | 0.12 |
| 1913 | 96 | #521 | 0.15 |
| 1912 | 85 | #530 | 0.15 |
| 1911 | 56 | #579 | 0.13 |
| 1910 | 56 | #549 | 0.14 |
| 1909 | 34 | #690 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 39 | #615 | 0.12 |
| 1907 | 31 | #692 | 0.10 |
| 1906 | 37 | #593 | 0.13 |
| 1905 | 39 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1904 | 26 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1903 | 15 | #927 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 24 | #715 | 0.09 |
| 1901 | 13 | #960 | 0.05 |
| 1900 | 27 | #704 | 0.09 |
| 1899 | 16 | #833 | 0.07 |
| 1898 | 22 | #718 | 0.09 |
| 1897 | 12 | #977 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,205 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 13 | #926 | 0.06 |
| 1894 | 9 | #1,127 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,425 | 0.03 |
| 1892 | 15 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 9 | #1,000 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,332 | 0.03 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,137 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,265 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Velva a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Velva has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 94 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Velva: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Velva, and how old are they?
1,040 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 24% of the 4,274 Americans ever recorded as Velva. The median Velva alive today is 74 years old; half are between 65 and 83.
The 2020 Census counted 1,274 people named Velva (1,266 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,360 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 309 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 539 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 160 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 18 |
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 Velva born?
The states with the most babies named Velva are Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri, with 38% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kentucky and West Virginia and Missouri are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 203 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| West Virginia | 194 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| Missouri | 155 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Oklahoma | 128 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Texas | 102 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Iowa | 90 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Arkansas | 77 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 72 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Tennessee | 72 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Virginia | 64 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Velva is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Velva is most over-represented in West Virginia: since 1910 it was given 3.0 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 Velva 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 4,664 babies since 1880, Velva is the most given (92% 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 Velva
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 Velva and names like it
- Compare Velva and VelvieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sVelva peaked in 1916.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Velva since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Velva.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Velva alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with VMost given first.