Valerie

Where Valerie comes from

From French Valérie, from Latin Valeria. Doublet of Valeria.
— Wiktionary's entry for Valerie
  • French
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1884
    First appearance
    #793 among girls, 8 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1936
    Valerie Solanas born
    American radical feminist and author
  3. 1959
    Peak, #60
    7,302 babies named Valerie — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1972
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #100.
  5. 1984
    Valerie Adams born
    New Zealand shot putter
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from French [in turn from Latin].
Namesakes
  • Valerie Solanas · American radical feminist and author, 1936–1988
  • Valerie Adams · New Zealand shot putter, born 1984
  • Valerie Perrine · American actress, 1943–2026
  • Valerie Harper · American actress, 1939–2019
  • Valerie Bertinelli · American actress, born 1960

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.