Humanverse

Valarie vs Valor

American parents have registered 18,714 Valaries since 1880, against 1,680 Valors. But in 2025 it was Valor that was commoner, 180 babies to 48.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Valarie against Valor, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Valarie Valor

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 115 years in which either name was published, Valarie for 102 years and Valor for 13 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Valarie Valor
Total US births 18,7141,680
Most in one year 641180
Babies in 2025 48180
Estimated living today 16,0001,700
Median age today 555
Peak year 19642025
Best rank 379th girls1,252nd boys
Rank in 2025 3,249th1,252nd
First recorded 19101988
Girls / boys 18,714 / 0188 / 1,492

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 Valaries alive today are over 55; half the Valors are over 5. That is 50 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Valarie and Valor.