Humanverse

Velinda vs Velva

American parents have registered 4,274 Velvas since 1880, against 896 Velindas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Velinda against Velva, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Velinda Velva

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 117 years in which either name was published, Velva for 79 years and Velinda for 38 years. The lead changed hands 21 times.

18 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Velinda Velva
Total US births 8964,274
Most in one year 45139
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 7701,100
Median age today 6273
Peak year 19581916
Best rank 1,588th girls567th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19421888
Girls / boys 896 / 04,274 / 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 Velvas alive today are over 73; half the Velindas are over 62. That is 11 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: Velinda and Velva.