Valin
A masculine name of French origin meaning "valley".
Name Census estimates that about 136 living Americans carry the first name Valin. It is a predominantly male name (96.4% of registrations). The average person named Valin today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valin births was 2006 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valin. 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
136
~ 1 in 2,520,252 Americans
Peak year
2006
21 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,112
Tracked since 1984
Census
Valin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 233 people with the first name Valin, which placed it at #34,862 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
#34,862
National first-name rank
People counted
233
233 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valin is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.6%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Valin 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 Valin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.1% · 126
- Black or African American17.6% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 24
- Two or more races9.4% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Valin
Valin leans heavily male at 96.4% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Valin as a male name
- Ranked #13,925 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 2006 (21 births)
Valin as a female name
- Ranked #12,112 in 1984
- 5 female births in 1984
- Peak: 1984 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valin leans strongly male. 190 people counted with this name were male (81.2%), compared with 44 female bearers (18.8%).
Popularity
Valin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 72 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
Valin 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 Valin 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 Valin
The name Valin is believed to have originated from the French language, derived from the Latin name "Valentinus" or "Valens," which means "strong" or "healthy." The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the Middle Ages, around the 12th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Valin was primarily used in France and surrounding regions, often associated with nobility and the upper classes. It was a popular name among the French aristocracy, with several notable historical figures bearing this name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Valin can be found in the "Chanson de Roland," an epic poem from the 11th century, where a character named Valin is mentioned as a knight in the service of Charlemagne. This literary reference suggests that the name was in use during the Carolingian era.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Valin de Corlieu was a French knight who participated in the Seventh Crusade led by King Louis IX. His name is recorded in several historical accounts of the time, indicating the continued use of the name among the French nobility.
Another historical figure bearing the name Valin was a 16th-century French poet and playwright, Valin Conrart, who was born in 1603 and died in 1675. He was a member of the Académie Française and contributed to the development of French literary culture during the reign of Louis XIV.
In the 18th century, Valin de la Mothe was a French jurist and legal scholar who wrote extensively on maritime law. His work, "Commentaire sur l'Ordonnance de la Marine du mois d'août 1681," published in 1760, became a seminal text in the field of maritime jurisprudence.
Moving into the 19th century, Valin Blanchard was a French painter and illustrator born in 1820 and died in 1889. He was known for his portraits and historical paintings, many of which are displayed in museums across France.
These examples demonstrate the enduring presence of the name Valin throughout various periods of French history, spanning different fields and professions, from knights and poets to legal scholars and artists.
People
Valin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valin 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
Valin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 136 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valin 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 2,520,252 US residents.
Is Valin a common name?
We classify Valin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 138 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valin most popular?
The single biggest year for Valin was 2006, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valin is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 233 people with the name Valin, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,862 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 Valin 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 Valin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valin leans strongly male. 190 people counted with this name were male (81.2%), compared with 44 female bearers (18.8%). 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 Valin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valin is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.6%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Valin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Valin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.1% (126 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 Valin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valin a male name?
Yes, 96.4% of people registered as Valin 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 Valin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valin 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 Valin 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 Valin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.