Valdemar
A Germanic masculine name meaning "ruler of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 714 living Americans carry the first name Valdemar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Valdemar today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valdemar births was 2002 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valdemar. 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 Valdemar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
714
~ 1 in 480,048 Americans
Peak year
2002
24 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,060
Tracked since 1912
Census
Valdemar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,236 people with the first name Valdemar, which placed it at #10,671 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
#10,671
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,236 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
75.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valdemar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valdemar is Hispanic at 75.2%. The next largest groups are White (20.2%) and Black (2.6%). 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 Valdemar 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 Valdemar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino75.2% · 929
- White20.2% · 250
- Black or African American2.6% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 13
- Two or more races0.7% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Valdemar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valdemar from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 123 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Valdemar 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 Valdemar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Valdemars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Valdemar
The name Valdemar is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German words "waltan" meaning "to rule" and "mari" meaning "famous." It dates back to the 9th century and was initially popular among the Frankish nobility.
Valdemar was a common name among medieval German rulers and nobility. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Annals of Fulda, a medieval chronicle from the 9th century, which mentions a nobleman named Valdemar serving under the Carolingian king Louis the German.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the name gained popularity in Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark, where it was borne by several kings. The most notable was Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182), also known as Valdemar the Great, who consolidated and expanded the Danish kingdom during his reign.
Another significant historical figure with this name was Valdemar Atterdag (1320-1375), King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375. He is credited with restoring the Danish monarchy after a period of decline and his efforts to reunite the former Danish territories under his rule.
In the realm of literature, the name Valdemar appears in the works of the Danish philosopher and poet Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). In his work "The Concept of Anxiety," Kierkegaard uses the pseudonym Vigilius Haufniensis, which translates to "Valdemar of Copenhagen."
Moving to the 19th century, Valdemar Poulsen (1869-1942) was a Danish engineer and inventor who pioneered the magnetic recording of sound. He is best known for his invention of the Telegraphone, an early magnetic recorder and telephone answering machine.
Another notable bearer of the name was Valdemar Langlet (1872-1960), a Swedish writer and poet who was a prominent figure in the Swedish literary scene of the early 20th century.
People
Valdemar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valdemar 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
Valdemar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valdemar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 714 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valdemar 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 480,048 US residents.
Is Valdemar a common name?
We classify Valdemar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 959 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valdemar most popular?
The single biggest year for Valdemar was 2002, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valdemar is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valdemar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,236 people with the name Valdemar, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,671 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 Valdemar 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 Valdemar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valdemar appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,231 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Valdemar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valdemar is Hispanic at 75.2%. The next largest groups are White (20.2%) and Black (2.6%). 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 Valdemar most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Valdemar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.2% (929 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 Valdemar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valdemar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Valdemar 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 Valdemar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valdemar 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 Valdemar 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 are named Valdemar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.