Recorded 1888–1983 · United States
Velva was most popular in 1916, when 139 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,040 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 4,274 people named Velva.
Velva first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1888, which makes it about 137 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 94 of the 138 years since. It was last recorded in 1983.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 4,274 American births named Velva 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 1,092 are estimated to be alive today.
Velva 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.
Across the whole record Velva is a girl’s name — 100.0% of the 4,274 Americans given it were girls and 0.0% were 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 1,092 Americans named Velva are alive today — 26% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 74 years old, and half are between 65 and 83.
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 Velva on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org