Valora
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "value" or "worth".
Name Census estimates that about 247 living Americans carry the first name Valora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Valora today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valora births was 1963 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valora. 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 Valora with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
247
~ 1 in 1,387,669 Americans
Peak year
1963
19 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,480
Tracked since 1912
Census
Valora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 324 people with the first name Valora, which placed it at #27,953 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
#27,953
National first-name rank
People counted
324
324 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valora is White at 59.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Valora 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 Valora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.6% · 193
- Black or African American20.1% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 29
- Two or more races5.2% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 5
Popularity
Valora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valora from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 74 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Valora remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Valora 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 Valora 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 Valora
The name Valora is believed to have originated from the Italian language, with its roots traced back to the Latin word "valor," meaning courage or bravery. This name gained prominence during the Renaissance period in Italy, particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Valora was a name often bestowed upon children born into noble families, as it symbolized the virtues of strength and valor, qualities that were highly esteemed in that era. The name was frequently associated with Italian knights and warriors who displayed exceptional bravery on the battlefield.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Valora can be found in the writings of the Italian poet and scholar, Petrarch, who lived from 1304 to 1374. In his literary works, he mentioned a woman named Valora, whom he described as a symbol of courage and resilience.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Valora. One such person was Valora Battista, an Italian painter who lived during the 16th century and was renowned for her vibrant and expressive portraits. Another remarkable figure was Valora Montecchi, a 14th-century Italian noblewoman known for her unwavering defense of her family's honor during the infamous feud between the Montecchi and Capuleti families, which inspired Shakespeare's renowned play, "Romeo and Juliet."
In the realm of literature, Valora Alighieri, the daughter of the celebrated Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), was a respected literary figure in her own right. She is said to have inherited her father's literary talent and had a profound impact on the preservation and dissemination of his iconic work, "The Divine Comedy."
Moving to more recent times, Valora Visconti (1809-1891) was an Italian countess and philanthropist who dedicated her life to establishing schools and educational institutions for underprivileged children in her native region of Lombardy.
While the name Valora may not be as widely used today as it once was, it remains a powerful and symbolic name that evokes a rich historical legacy of courage, resilience, and nobility.
People
Valora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valora 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
Valora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 247 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valora 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 1,387,669 US residents.
Is Valora a common name?
We classify Valora as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 427 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valora most popular?
The single biggest year for Valora was 1963, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valora is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 324 people with the name Valora, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,953 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 Valora 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 Valora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valora appears almost entirely female. Of the 329 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Valora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valora is White at 59.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Valora most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Valora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.6% (193 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 Valora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valora a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Valora 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 Valora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valora 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 Valora 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 common is the name Valora?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Valora at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.