Valerie
Meaning
"strong, healthy," from valere, by way of the Roman Valeria and the French Valerie; a mid-century American favorite with a soft sound over a sturdy meaning. The accent dropped away; the Gallic polish stayed
Goes by Val
The story
Valerie comes from Valeria, the feminine form of an old Roman family name rooted in the Latin valere, to be strong and healthy. It traveled through France as Valérie, picking up a certain glamour along the way, and arrived in English sounding both classic and current. American parents warmed to it slowly: a modest presence in the earliest records, then a steady mid-century rise that never quite became a fad and never needed to. Songwriters have been drawn to the name for decades, from Steve Winwood in the 1980s to the Zutons song that Amy Winehouse made famous in 2007, and each generation seems to rediscover it on its own terms. That may be why the chart below looks so unusual: no spike, no crash, just a long, patient climb that has carried Valerie to its highest levels yet.
Valerie's name family
One shared root links 4 names across 2 languages.
Shared root: from the Roman family name Valerius, from valere "to be strong, healthy"
The family
More branches
Valerie in song
Valerie
The Zutons (2006)
The Zutons wrote it as a postcard to a friend tangled up with the law in the States, and Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse's 2007 cover turned it into the version everyone sings.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Valerie peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
232 people · the #22,872 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 34
Among people named Valerie living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Valerie
People given the name Valerie in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2009. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Valerie deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Valerie truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Valerie fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Valerie · Nicknames for Valerie · Middle names for Valerie
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