Velvet
Velvet was given to 12 girls in 2025, #8,822 among girls’ names; 3,101 Americans have been recorded with it since 1920 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,780 Americans named Velvet and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 43 and 64.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Velvet by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Velvet?
#8,822 among girls’ names, 2025
Velvet rose from #16,288 in 2015 to #8,822 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 3.4 to 7.5 per million.
332 babies in 1961, the peak
Velvet peaked in 1961, when 332 girls were given it, #542 among girls’ names. The 12 births of 2025 are 4% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 | #8,822 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 11 | #9,514 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 13 | #8,456 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 16 | #7,259 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 13 | #8,423 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 8 | #12,069 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 11 | #9,692 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 9 | #11,374 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 11 | #9,885 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,803 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (82)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6 | #16,288 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 15 | #8,032 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 7 | #14,502 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 12 | #9,680 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 9 | #12,087 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 6 | #16,862 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 9 | #12,377 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 17 | #7,725 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 12 | #10,099 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 7 | #15,062 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 11 | #10,092 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 9 | #11,576 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 10 | #10,389 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 12 | #8,810 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 15 | #7,297 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,740 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 14 | #7,218 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 20 | #5,350 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 18 | #5,616 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 19 | #5,270 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 22 | #4,669 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 18 | #5,433 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 21 | #4,816 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 21 | #4,840 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 22 | #4,639 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 31 | #3,514 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 19 | #4,838 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 34 | #3,032 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 33 | #2,967 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 32 | #2,969 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 37 | #2,653 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 45 | #2,224 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 46 | #2,154 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 62 | #1,785 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 45 | #2,264 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 48 | #2,153 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 69 | #1,643 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 57 | #1,803 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 47 | #2,062 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 41 | #2,132 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 71 | #1,458 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 71 | #1,437 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 65 | #1,477 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 93 | #1,168 | 0.06 |
| 1971 | 85 | #1,300 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 63 | #1,560 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 55 | #1,632 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 42 | #1,850 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 63 | #1,398 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 86 | #1,152 | 0.05 |
| 1965 | 85 | #1,166 | 0.05 |
| 1964 | 117 | #989 | 0.06 |
| 1963 | 143 | #881 | 0.07 |
| 1962 | 261 | #626 | 0.13 |
| 1961 | 332 | #542 | 0.16 |
| 1960 | 73 | #1,291 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 19 | #2,758 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,178 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 14 | #3,297 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 19 | #2,715 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 15 | #3,088 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 14 | #3,145 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 19 | #2,511 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 18 | #2,575 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 22 | #2,174 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 18 | #2,429 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 16 | #2,614 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 18 | #2,411 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 16 | #2,629 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 33 | #1,556 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 36 | #1,353 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,932 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Velvet a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Velvet has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 83 years of records.
Girls and boys named Velvet: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Velvet, and how old are they?
2,780 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 3,101 Americans ever recorded as Velvet. The median Velvet alive today is 55 years old; half are between 43 and 64.
The 2020 Census counted 2,588 people named Velvet (2,560 women and girls, 28 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,804 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 23 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 979 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 964 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 492 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 187 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 139 |
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 Velvet born?
The states with the most babies named Velvet are California, North Carolina and Texas, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 211 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 118 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Texas | 105 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 83 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New York | 65 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Georgia | 60 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Virginia | 54 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 51 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Louisiana | 49 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Florida | 47 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Velvet is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Velvet is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1920 it was given 1.4 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 Velvet with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Velvet
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 Velvet and names like it
- Compare Velvet and MissyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sVelvet peaked in 1961.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Velvet since 1910.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Velvet.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Velvet alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with VMost given first.