Velda
A feminine name of English origin referring to a meadow or grassy field.
Name Census estimates that about 2,294 living Americans carry the first name Velda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Velda today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Velda births was 1920 (191 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Velda. 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 Velda is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Veldas were born before 1965.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 149,413 Americans
Peak year
1920
191 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
2020 SSA rank
#17,342
Tracked since 1895
Census
Velda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,294 people with the first name Velda, which placed it at #5,271 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
#5,271
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,294 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Velda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Velda is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Black (21.8%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Velda 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 Velda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.1% · 2,243
- Black or African American21.8% · 718
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 143
- Two or more races2.5% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 71
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 37
Popularity
Velda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Velda from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,678 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Velda 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 Velda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Veldas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Kansas, Texas, Missouri recorded the most babies named Velda, while Wyoming, Minnesota, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 125 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Velda
The given name Velda has its origins in the Old Norse language, originating from the word "veld" which means "ruler" or "power." This name was commonly used in Scandinavian countries during the Viking era, and it was often given to girls born into noble or influential families.
Velda was a popular name among the ancient Norse people, and it is believed to have been derived from the name of the Norse goddess of love and fertility, Freyja. In Norse mythology, Freyja was revered as a powerful and influential deity, and the name Velda was likely chosen to bestow upon the bearer the qualities of strength, authority, and prosperity.
The earliest recorded use of the name Velda dates back to the 9th century, when it appeared in various Norse sagas and historical records. One of the most notable historical figures bearing this name was Velda Halfdanardóttir, a 10th-century Norwegian princess who was the daughter of King Halfdan the Black.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Velda gained popularity across various parts of Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Germany. Several notable individuals from this period bore this name, including Velda of Saxony (c. 1050 - 1116), a German noblewoman and landowner, and Velda of Plesse (c. 1200 - 1270), a German abbess and religious leader.
In the Renaissance period, the name Velda was less common, but it did appear in some historical records and literary works. One notable figure was Velda Gonzaga (1472 - 1525), an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts who was known for her support of artists and intellectuals during the Italian Renaissance.
As the name Velda transitioned into the modern era, it maintained its association with strength, power, and authority. Several notable women bore this name, including Velda Muir (1888 - 1954), an American writer and educator, and Velda von Tresckow (1903 - 1981), a German aristocrat and member of the German resistance movement during World War II.
Throughout its history, the name Velda has been associated with powerful and influential women, reflecting its origins as a name bestowed upon those born into nobility or positions of authority. While its popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries, it remains a unique and distinctive name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Velda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Velda 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
Velda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Velda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,294 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Velda 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 149,413 US residents.
Is Velda a common name?
We classify Velda as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,559 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Velda most popular?
The single biggest year for Velda was 1920, when 191 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Velda is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Velda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,294 people with the name Velda, or 1.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,271 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 Velda 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 Velda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Velda appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,304 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Velda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Velda is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Black (21.8%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Velda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Velda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.1% (2,243 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 Velda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Velda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Velda 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 Velda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Velda 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 Velda 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 Velda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.