Recorded 1895–2020 · United States
Velda was most popular in 1920, when 191 American babies were given the name — ranking #927 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 7,559 people named Velda.
Velda first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1895, which makes it about 130 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 98 of the 131 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 7,559 American births named Velda between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 2,737 are estimated to be alive today.
Velda was not recorded in 2025. The SSA withholds any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so fewer than five American babies were given it.
Velda is out of use. It averaged 5 births a year a decade ago and has not been recorded in the last five years.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Velda is a girl’s name — 100.0% of the 7,559 Americans given it were girls and 0.0% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 100% girls and 0% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 2,737 Americans named Velda are alive today — 36% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 71 years old, and half are between 65 and 81.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Velda on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org