Velina
Feminine name of Russian and Slavic origin meaning "beautiful" or "lovely".
Name Census estimates that about 288 living Americans carry the first name Velina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Velina today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Velina births was 1957 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Velina. 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
288
~ 1 in 1,190,119 Americans
Peak year
1957
31 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2020 SSA rank
#17,343
Tracked since 1922
Census
Velina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 533 people with the first name Velina, which placed it at #19,699 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
#19,699
National first-name rank
People counted
533
533 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Velina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Velina is White at 43.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (21.0%). 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 Velina 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 Velina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.0% · 229
- Black or African American28.5% · 152
- Hispanic or Latino21.0% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 20
- Two or more races2.4% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 7
Popularity
Velina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Velina from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 157 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
Velina 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 Velina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Velinas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Velina
The name Velina is believed to have its origins in the Slavic languages, specifically Bulgarian and Russian. It is thought to be a feminine form of the name Velin, which is derived from the Slavic root word "vel," meaning "great" or "mighty."
In the early medieval period, the name Velina was popular among the nobility and aristocracy of the Bulgarian Empire and the Kievan Rus'. It was often bestowed upon daughters of prominent families as a symbol of strength and power.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Velina can be found in the Synodicon of Tsar Boril, a 13th-century Bulgarian manuscript that chronicles the lives of saints and martyrs. In this text, a nun named Velina is mentioned as a follower of St. John of Rila, a revered Bulgarian saint from the 10th century.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Velina. One such figure was Velina of Serbia (c. 1230-1268), a Serbian princess who married the Byzantine Emperor Theodore II Laskaris. Another was Velina of Bulgaria (c. 1265-1314), a Bulgarian tsaritsa (empress) who was married to Tsar Smilets of Bulgaria.
In the 15th century, a Russian noblewoman named Velina Golitsyna (c. 1420-1490) gained prominence as a benefactor and patron of the arts. She was instrumental in the construction of several churches and monasteries in Moscow.
During the Renaissance period, the Italian painter Velina Redi (1545-1612) achieved recognition for her portraits and religious works, which can still be found in various churches and museums throughout Italy.
Another notable figure was Velina Andropova (1701-1780), a Russian writer and philosopher who was a prominent figure in the intellectual circles of St. Petersburg during the reign of Catherine the Great.
People
Velina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Velina 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
Velina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Velina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 288 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Velina 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 1,190,119 US residents.
Is Velina a common name?
We classify Velina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 370 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Velina most popular?
The single biggest year for Velina was 1957, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Velina is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Velina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 533 people with the name Velina, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,699 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 Velina 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 Velina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Velina appears almost entirely female. Of the 530 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Velina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Velina is White at 43.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (21.0%). 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 Velina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Velina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.0% (229 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 Velina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Velina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Velina 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 Velina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Velina 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 Velina 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 Velina?
See how many people share the name Velina on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.