Valla
An old French surname derived from Latin word "vallis" meaning valley.
Name Census estimates that about 81 living Americans carry the first name Valla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Valla today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Valla births was 1918 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Valla. 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
- • The typical person named Valla is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Vallas were born before 1967.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Valla. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
81
~ 1 in 4,231,535 Americans
Peak year
1918
10 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,034
Tracked since 1906
Census
Valla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 181 people with the first name Valla, which placed it at #40,888 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
#40,888
National first-name rank
People counted
181
181 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Valla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valla is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Valla 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 Valla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.6% · 135
- Black or African American18.8% · 34
- Two or more races3.9% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Valla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Valla from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 51 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Valla 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 Valla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vallas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Valla
The name Valla has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was once spoken across the Indian subcontinent. The name is believed to have derived from the Sanskrit word "vallabha," which means "beloved" or "lover." This suggests that the name Valla may have been initially given to children as a term of endearment.
In ancient Hindu texts, such as the Vedas and Upanishads, there are references to the name Valla or its variants being used as a personal name. However, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact time period or context in which the name first appeared in these sacred scriptures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Valla can be found in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. In this epic, there is a character named Valla, who was a prince from the kingdom of Kashi (present-day Varanasi). However, not much is known about the significance or background of this character.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Valla. One of the most famous was Lorenzo Valla, an Italian Renaissance humanist and philosopher who lived from 1407 to 1457. He is remembered for his contributions to the field of philology and for his criticism of the Donation of Constantine, a document that purported to grant the Roman emperor Constantine the right to bestow lands on the Pope.
Another notable figure with the name Valla was Giuseppe Valla, an Italian sculptor who lived from 1806 to 1891. He is best known for his works in marble, including the statue of Dante Alighieri located in the Piazza dei Signori in Verona, Italy.
In the field of literature, there was Valla Sata, a Tamil poet and author who lived in the 18th century. He is renowned for his contributions to the Tamil literary tradition, particularly his works on grammar and poetics.
Valla Narasimha Rao, who lived from 1893 to 1941, was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer. He played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and advocated for the upliftment of the underprivileged communities in his home state of Andhra Pradesh.
Finally, Valla Somayajulu, who lived from 1929 to 2017, was an Indian classical dancer and choreographer. He was widely celebrated for his contributions to the Kuchipudi dance form and his efforts in preserving and promoting Indian classical dance traditions.
While these are just a few examples, the name Valla has been carried by individuals from various walks of life throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and cultures.
People
Valla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Valla 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
Valla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Valla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 81 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Valla 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 4,231,535 US residents.
Is Valla a common name?
We classify Valla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 222 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Valla most popular?
The single biggest year for Valla was 1918, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Valla is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Valla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 181 people with the name Valla, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,888 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 Valla 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 Valla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Valla leans strongly female. 173 people counted with this name were female (94.0%), compared with 11 male bearers (6.0%). 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 Valla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Valla is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Valla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Valla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.6% (135 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 Valla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Valla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Valla 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 Valla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Valla 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 Valla 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 have Valla as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.