Belma vs Belva
American parents have registered 7,960 Belvas since 1880, against 640 Belmas. Belva is still ahead, with 5 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Belma Belva
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 123 years in which either name was published, Belva for 106 years and Belma for 17 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.
Side by side
| Belma | Belva | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 640 | 7,960 |
| Most in one year | 18 | 184 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 5 |
| Estimated living today | 330 | 2,100 |
| Median age today | 52 | 76 |
| Peak year | 1918 | 1927 |
| Best rank | 2,029th girls | 519th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 14,942nd |
| First recorded | 1895 | 1881 |
| Girls / boys | 640 / 0 | 7,960 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Belvas alive today are over 76; half the Belmas are over 52. That is 24 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Belma Texas (10.4×)
- Belva West Virginia (10.7×), South Dakota (7.2×), Oklahoma (3.9×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Belma and Belva.