Valeria
Strong and courageous, derived from the Latin word "valere" meaning strength.
Name Census estimates that about 70,636 living Americans carry the first name Valeria. It sits at #161 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Valeria today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valeria births was 2008 (4,212 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valeria. 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 Valeria with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Valeria is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 105 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
71K
~ 1 in 4,852 Americans
Peak year
2008
4,212 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2012 SSA rank
#161
Tracked since 1881
Census
Valeria in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 63,599 people with the first name Valeria, which placed it at #777 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
#777
National first-name rank
People counted
64K
63,599 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
21.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
84.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valeria
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valeria is Hispanic at 84.8%. The next largest groups are White (10.0%) and Black (4.4%). 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 Valeria 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 Valeria at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino84.8% · 53,901
- White10.0% · 6,332
- Black or African American4.4% · 2,809
- Two or more races0.4% · 232
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 217
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 108
Gender
Gender distribution for Valeria
Out of the 78,318 babies given the name Valeria since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Valeria as a male name
- Ranked #10,687 in 2012
- 7 male births in 2012
- Peak: 1993 (10 births)
Valeria as a female name
- Ranked #161 in 2024
- 1,865 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (4,206 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valeria appears almost entirely female. Of the 63,605 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Valeria: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valeria from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 26,256 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Valeria remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Valeria 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 Valeria during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Valerias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Valeria, while Montana, South Dakota, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,625 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Valeria
Valeria is a feminine given name with Latin origins, derived from the Roman family name Valerius. This name can be traced back to ancient Rome, where it was borne by members of the gens Valeria, one of the oldest and most distinguished patrician families in the Roman Republic.
The name Valerius is believed to be derived from the Latin word "valere," meaning "to be strong" or "to be well." This connection suggests that the name Valeria was initially associated with strength, health, and wellness. In ancient Rome, names often carried symbolic meanings and were meant to convey positive traits or aspirations for the child.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Valeria appears in Roman historical texts, where it was mentioned as the name of a Roman woman who lived during the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD). This early reference indicates that the name was in use during the Roman Imperial period.
Throughout the centuries, several notable historical figures have borne the name Valeria. One of the most famous was Valeria Messalina (c. 17 - 48 AD), the third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius. She was known for her notorious and scandalous behavior, which ultimately led to her execution.
Another prominent figure was Valeria Caecilia Secundina (c. 305 - 365 AD), a Roman Christian who lived during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. She was venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church for her piety and charitable works.
In the Middle Ages, the name Valeria was used by several European noblewomen, including Valeria of Aquitaine (c. 1011 - 1076), the wife of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, and Valeria of Vergy (c. 1079 - 1144), a French noblewoman and crusader.
During the Renaissance period, the name Valeria gained popularity in Italy, where it was borne by several notable figures, including Valeria Piccolomini (1556 - 1648), an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, and Valeria Morati (1622 - 1692), an Italian scholar and writer.
In more recent history, the name Valeria has been associated with several influential women, such as Valeria Golino (born 1965), an Italian actress and filmmaker, and Valeria Luiselli (born 1983), a Mexican writer and academic.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Valeria
People
Valeria + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valeria 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
Valeria: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valeria?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 70,636 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valeria 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 4,852 US residents.
Is Valeria a common name?
We classify Valeria as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 78,318 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valeria most popular?
The single biggest year for Valeria was 2008, when 4,212 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valeria is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valeria in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 63,599 people with the name Valeria, or 21.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #777 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 Valeria 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 Valeria?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valeria appears almost entirely female. Of the 63,605 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Valeria?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valeria is Hispanic at 84.8%. The next largest groups are White (10.0%) and Black (4.4%). 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 Valeria most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Valeria in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.8% (53,901 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 Valeria in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valeria a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Valeria 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 Valeria still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valeria 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 Valeria 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 Valeria?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.