Girls' name · peaked in 1907

Velma name popularity since 1925

47,273 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Velma. Half of them were born in 1938 or earlier, so the typical Velma is about 88 years old in 2026. Velma peaked in 1907 as the #90 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 47,273; Named Velma, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1907; #90 for girls that year
Typical age: About 88; Median birth year 1938
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #5,903 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.5% girls; 47,033 girls · 240 boys
Most popular in: Mississippi; 4.86× its national share

Peak year is the year Velma made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Velma births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year on this chart was 1928. Measured as a share of all babies, Velma peaked earlier, in 1907.

Steepest fall: Between 1967 and 1972, Velma's share of baby girls fell by 52%, from 1 in 6,050 to 1 in 12,700.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Velma's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Velma.

Decade by decade

Babies named Velma in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	10,802	78	–
1930s	14,250	109	#147
1940s	9,272	38	#223
1950s	6,861	15	#338
1960s	3,696	0	#500
1970s	1,134	0	#1,240
1980s	512	0	#2,746
1990s	191	0	#7,026
2000s	97	0	#14,438
2010s	107	0	#16,293
2020–25	111	0	#5,903

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

51.9% of babies named Velma from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:

Where Velma is most popular

The index compares Velma's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Velma.

State	Index	Babies
Mississippi	4.86×	2,641
Arkansas	4.71×	2,170
Oklahoma	3.49×	2,038
Louisiana	2.88×	2,318
West Virginia	2.65×	1,046

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Velma's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Velma.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Velma (1907).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data