Valentin
Strong, healthy; derived from Latin name Valentinus meaning "strength, vigor."
Name Census estimates that about 10,207 living Americans carry the first name Valentin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Valentin today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valentin births was 2007 (404 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valentin. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Valentin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
10K
~ 1 in 33,580 Americans
Peak year
2007
404 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#747
Tracked since 1912
Census
Valentin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,763 people with the first name Valentin, which placed it at #1,846 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
#1,846
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
15,763 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valentin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valentin is Hispanic at 79.3%. The next largest groups are White (17.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Valentin 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 Valentin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino79.3% · 12,507
- White17.8% · 2,808
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 230
- Black or African American0.9% · 143
- Two or more races0.3% · 51
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 24
Popularity
Valentin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valentin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,425 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Valentin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Valentin 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 Valentin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Valentins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Valentin, while South Carolina, Ohio, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 306 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Valentin
The name Valentin has its origins in the Late Latin name Valentinus, which was derived from the Latin word "valens", meaning strong or healthy. It was originally a surname given to someone of robust constitution. The name became popular during the 3rd century AD in ancient Rome, as it was the name of several early Christian martyrs.
One of the most notable bearers of the name was Saint Valentine, a 3rd-century Roman priest who was martyred on February 14th, around 270 AD. He is the namesake of Valentine's Day, a celebration of love and romance. The legend of Saint Valentine has been associated with various romantic traditions over the centuries, contributing to the popularity of the name.
The name Valentin gained widespread use in medieval Europe, particularly in regions influenced by the Roman Empire and Christianity. In various European languages, it took on different spellings and diminutive forms, such as Valentino in Italian, Valentin in French and German, and Valentín in Spanish.
Throughout history, several notable figures bore the name Valentin. One of the earliest was Valentin Naibod (c. 1460-1529), a German humanist scholar and philosopher who taught at the University of Vienna. Another prominent bearer was Valentin Weigel (1533-1588), a German theologian and philosopher known for his mystical and speculative writings.
In the field of literature, Valentin Conrart (1603-1675) was a French author and one of the founders of the Académie française. The Russian poet Valentin Rasputin (1937-2015) gained fame for his works depicting rural life and environmental concerns.
In the arts, Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632) was a French painter known for his candlelit scenes and religious works, while Valentin Silvestrov (born 1937) is a renowned Ukrainian composer of contemporary classical music.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Valentin, a name with a rich heritage rooted in ancient Rome and early Christianity, which has endured and spread across various cultures and languages.
People
Valentin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valentin 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
Valentin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valentin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,207 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valentin 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 33,580 US residents.
Is Valentin a common name?
We classify Valentin as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,304 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valentin most popular?
The single biggest year for Valentin was 2007, when 404 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valentin is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valentin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,763 people with the name Valentin, or 5.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,846 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 Valentin 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 Valentin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valentin leans strongly male. 15,592 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 168 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Valentin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valentin is Hispanic at 79.3%. The next largest groups are White (17.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Valentin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Valentin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (12,507 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 Valentin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valentin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Valentin in the SSA data are male. 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 Valentin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valentin 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 Valentin 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 Americans are named Valentin?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Valentin at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.