Vala
A feminine Scandinavian name meaning "choice" or "valiant one".
Name Census estimates that about 167 living Americans carry the first name Vala. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vala today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vala births was 2011 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vala. 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 Vala with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
167
~ 1 in 2,052,421 Americans
Peak year
2011
13 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,353
Tracked since 1921
Census
Vala in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 309 people with the first name Vala, which placed it at #28,877 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
#28,877
National first-name rank
People counted
309
309 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vala
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vala is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Vala 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 Vala at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.1% · 226
- Black or African American9.7% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.2% · 16
- Two or more races4.9% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Vala: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vala from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 76 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vala remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vala 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 Vala 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 Vala
The name Vala has its origins in Scandinavian and Nordic languages, where it is believed to have derived from the Old Norse word "vǫlva," meaning "staff-bearer" or "wand-bearer." This term referred to a female shaman or seeress in Norse mythology who carried a staff or wand and had the ability to prophecize and communicate with the gods.
In Norse mythology, the Vala was a revered figure, often depicted as an elderly woman with prophetic powers. She played a significant role in various mythological tales, such as the Völuspá, one of the oldest and most famous poems in the Poetic Edda, where a Vala recounts the creation of the world and its eventual destruction.
The earliest known historical reference to the name Vala can be traced back to the 13th century, when it appeared in Icelandic sagas and manuscripts. One notable figure from this period was Vala Hallsdóttir (c. 1240-1310), an Icelandic chieftain's daughter and a prominent figure in the Sturlunga saga, a collection of Icelandic sagas from the 13th century.
In the 16th century, the name Vala gained popularity in England, particularly among Puritan families who drew inspiration from biblical names. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in England was Vala Savile (c. 1550-1630), an English landowner and benefactor from Yorkshire.
Throughout history, the name Vala has been associated with several notable individuals, including:
1. Vala Frid (1913-2001), a Swedish artist and sculptor known for her abstract and modernist works.
2. Vala Nuredini (born 1982), a Kosovar singer and actress who has gained popularity in the Balkans.
3. Vala Mallinson (1901-1996), a British actress and writer who appeared in numerous stage productions and films.
4. Vala Måsteng (born 1980), a Norwegian politician and member of the Conservative Party who served as a member of the Storting (Norwegian parliament).
5. Vala Farid (born 1956), an Iranian painter and sculptor known for her abstract and surrealist works.
While the name Vala has its roots in Norse mythology and Scandinavian languages, it has transcended its cultural boundaries and gained recognition in various parts of the world, often carrying connotations of mysticism, prophecy, and artistic expression.
People
Vala + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vala 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
Vala: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vala?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 167 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vala 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 2,052,421 US residents.
Is Vala a common name?
We classify Vala as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 206 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vala most popular?
The single biggest year for Vala was 2011, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vala 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 Vala in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 309 people with the name Vala, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,877 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 Vala 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 Vala?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vala leans strongly female. 265 people counted with this name were female (86.6%), compared with 41 male bearers (13.4%). 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 Vala?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vala is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Vala most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vala in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (226 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 Vala in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vala a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vala 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 Vala still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vala 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 Vala 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 Vala?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.