Valeri
From the Latin name Valerius, meaning "strong" or "healthy".
Name Census estimates that about 1,689 living Americans carry the first name Valeri. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Valeri today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valeri births was 1964 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valeri. 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 202,933 Americans
Peak year
1964
55 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,121
Tracked since 1948
Popularity
Valeri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valeri from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 401 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
Valeri 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 Valeri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Valeris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Valeri, while Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Valeri
The name Valeri originates from the Late Latin name Valerius, which itself derives from the Latin word "valere" meaning "to be strong" or "to be well." The name first appeared in ancient Rome during the Roman Republic and Empire periods, around the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD.
Valerius was originally a Roman family name or cognomen, but it eventually became a common praenomen or given name. The earliest recorded example of the name dates back to the 3rd century BC when Valerius Antias, a Roman annalist and historian, lived and wrote his works.
In ancient times, the name Valerius was borne by several notable figures, including the Roman emperor Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, better known as Constantine the Great (272-337 AD), who played a pivotal role in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Another famous bearer was the Roman poet Valerius Flaccus (c. 1st century AD), who wrote the epic poem "Argonautica."
During the Middle Ages, the name Valerius continued to be used, particularly in its various vernacular forms such as Valeri in Italian, Valère in French, and Valero in Spanish. One notable bearer from this period was Valeri Hrapko (c. 14th century), a prominent Serb nobleman and military commander who fought against the Ottoman Empire.
In the Renaissance and Early Modern periods, the name Valeri gained popularity across Europe. Notable bearers include the Italian artist Valeri Castello (c. 1624-1659), known for his exquisite still-life paintings, and the French mathematician and philosopher Valeri Valerius (1603-1676), who made significant contributions to the development of calculus.
Other notable individuals named Valeri throughout history include the Russian composer Valeri Gavrilin (1939-1999), the Bulgarian weightlifter Valeri Khristov (1957-2008), and the Soviet cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov (1942-), who holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight mission of 437 days and 18 hours.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Valeri
People
Valeri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valeri 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
Valeri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valeri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,689 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valeri 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 202,933 US residents.
Is Valeri a common name?
We classify Valeri as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,930 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valeri most popular?
The single biggest year for Valeri was 1964, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valeri is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Valeri a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Valeri 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.
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.