Valari
A feminine name of Latin origin, meaning "to be strong, valiant".
Name Census estimates that about 79 living Americans carry the first name Valari. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Valari today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valari births was 1963 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valari. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Valari. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
79
~ 1 in 4,338,663 Americans
Peak year
1963
8 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2010 SSA rank
#19,662
Tracked since 1949
Census
Valari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 204 people with the first name Valari, which placed it at #37,948 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
#37,948
National first-name rank
People counted
204
204 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valari is White at 62.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.6%) and Black (10.8%). 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 Valari 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 Valari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.3% · 127
- Hispanic or Latino18.6% · 38
- Black or African American10.8% · 22
- Two or more races3.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 4
Popularity
Valari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valari from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 37 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
Valari 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 Valari 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 Valari
Valari is a unique and intriguing name with a rich history that spans across multiple cultures and time periods. Its origins can be traced back to the Sanskrit language, which was prevalent in ancient India. The name Valari is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "Valari," which translates to "bearer of strength" or "strong one."
In Hindu mythology, Valari is associated with the goddess Durga, who is revered as the embodiment of divine feminine power and strength. The name is sometimes used as an epithet for Durga, emphasizing her unwavering courage and resilience in the face of adversity. This connection to the goddess suggests that individuals bearing the name Valari were believed to possess similar qualities of fortitude and determination.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Valari can be found in ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, where it is mentioned in relation to various deities and mythological figures. One notable example is the Devi Mahatmya, a renowned Hindu scripture that glorifies the goddess Durga and her various manifestations.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Valari. In the 6th century CE, Valari Purandara was a renowned scholar and philosopher who made significant contributions to the field of Indian epistemology. His works on logic and reasoning were highly influential during his time.
Another prominent figure with the name Valari was Valari Narasimha Deva, a 14th-century king from the Vijayanagar Empire in South India. He was known for his military prowess and his efforts in promoting art, architecture, and cultural development during his reign.
In the realm of literature, Valari Devi was a celebrated 16th-century Sanskrit poet and scholar from Bengal. Her works, which included poetry and commentaries on ancient texts, were highly regarded for their depth and literary excellence.
Moving forward in time, Valari Raman was an Indian physicist and Nobel laureate born in 1888. He made groundbreaking contributions to the field of molecular spectroscopy and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for his pioneering work on the Raman effect.
Lastly, Valari Bai was a renowned classical Indian dancer and choreographer who lived from 1910 to 1996. She was instrumental in reviving and popularizing the traditional Bharatanatyam dance form, and her contributions to the art form were widely celebrated during her lifetime.
While the name Valari may not be as common in modern times, its rich historical roots and associations with strength, divinity, and cultural significance make it a name with a fascinating and enduring legacy.
People
Valari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valari 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
Valari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valari 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 4,338,663 US residents.
Is Valari a common name?
We classify Valari as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 93 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valari most popular?
The single biggest year for Valari was 1963, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valari is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 204 people with the name Valari, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,948 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 Valari 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 Valari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valari leans strongly female. 195 people counted with this name were female (96.5%), compared with 7 male bearers (3.5%). 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 Valari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valari is White at 62.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.6%) and Black (10.8%). 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 Valari most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Valari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.3% (127 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 Valari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valari a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Valari 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 Valari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valari 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 Valari 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 Valari?
Want to know how many people have the name Valari? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.