Valentine

Where Valentine comes from

From Latin Valentīnus, a patronymic from Valēns (Roman cognomen), itself nominalized from vālens (“strong, healthy”) + -īnus (“-ine”). Doublet of Valentinus, Valentino, Valentina, and Valentini.
— Wiktionary's entry for Valentine
  • Latin
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Valentine through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #600 among boys, with 10 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1894
    Peak, #358
    26 babies named Valentine, its best rank.
  3. 1897
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #615.
  4. 1922
    Valentine Telegdi born
    American physicist
  5. 1967
    Valentine Strasser born
    Sierra Leonean politician
  6. 2016
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name. From this year on, more boys have.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name from Latin.
  • A male given name from Latin in quiet but steady use since the 16th century.
  • A female given name from Latin occasionally borrowed from French.
  • An English and Scottish surname derived from the male given name.
Namesakes
  • Valentine Strasser · Sierra Leonean politician, born 1967
  • Valentine Telegdi · American physicist, 1922–2006
  • Valentine Demy · Italian mainstream and pornographic actress, born 1963
  • Valentine Hugo · French painter, draftsman, and illustrator, 1887–1968
  • Valentine de Saint-Point · artist, 1875–1953

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.