Valaria
A feminine name of Latin origin potentially meaning "strong" or "valiant".
Name Census estimates that about 155 living Americans carry the first name Valaria. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Valaria today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valaria births was 1960 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valaria. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
155
~ 1 in 2,211,318 Americans
Peak year
1960
14 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1994 SSA rank
#10,533
Tracked since 1914
Census
Valaria in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 402 people with the first name Valaria, which placed it at #24,093 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#24,093
National first-name rank
People counted
402
402 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valaria
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valaria is Hispanic at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and White (23.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Valaria described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Valaria at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino46.3% · 186
- Black or African American26.9% · 108
- White23.6% · 95
- Two or more races2.2% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 4
Popularity
Valaria: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valaria from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 74 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Valaria by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Valaria during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Valaria
The name Valaria has its origins in Latin, derived from the word "valere," which means "to be strong" or "to be well." This name was popular among the ancient Romans and was often given to girls born into wealthy or influential families.
The earliest recorded use of the name Valaria dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was mentioned in various historical texts and inscriptions from the Roman Empire. One notable example is the inscription found in the ruins of Pompeii, which references a woman named Valaria who lived during the time of the city's destruction in 79 AD.
In ancient Roman mythology, Valaria was also the name of a minor goddess associated with strength and health. She was often invoked by Roman soldiers before battle, seeking her blessings for protection and victory.
During the Middle Ages, the name Valaria fell out of favor in most parts of Europe, but it remained in use among certain aristocratic families in Italy and Spain. One notable figure from this period was Valaria de Medici (1488-1537), a member of the influential Medici family in Florence and the wife of Ferdinando de' Medici, Duke of Mantua.
The name experienced a resurgence in popularity during the Renaissance, particularly in Italy and France. One famous bearer of the name was Valaria Borghese (1590-1649), an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts who was renowned for her beauty and her support of artists like Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
In the 19th century, the name Valaria gained some traction in English-speaking countries, though it remained relatively rare. One notable example from this period was Valaria Olcott (1832-1898), an American author and educator who played a significant role in the development of kindergarten education in the United States.
Another historical figure with the name Valaria was Valaria Mossouri (1878-1950), a Greek-American opera singer and soprano who performed in many prestigious opera houses throughout Europe and the United States in the early 20th century.
People
Valaria + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valaria as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Valaria: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valaria?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 155 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valaria going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,211,318 US residents.
Is Valaria a common name?
We classify Valaria as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 272 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valaria most popular?
The single biggest year for Valaria was 1960, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valaria is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valaria in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 402 people with the name Valaria, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,093 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Valaria in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Valaria?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valaria leans strongly female. 396 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Valaria?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valaria is Hispanic at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and White (23.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Valaria most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Valaria in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (186 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Valaria in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valaria a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Valaria in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Valaria still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valaria in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Valaria can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Valaria?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.