Velma
Velma is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 13 births. Its best rank was 88th, in 1912.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 130.00% of girls
- Peak year
- 19212,606 births
- Best rank
- #88in 1912
- Since 1880
- 86,731people given the name
The story in the numbers
86,731 girls have been named Velma in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1921, with 2,606 births — 0.21% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 13 births in 2024, against 2,606 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1926, and the 1920s alone account for 26%. It has spent 94 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 14 of them in the top 100.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Velma | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 358 | |
| 1890s | 2,099 | |
| 1900s | 6,558 | |
| 1910s | 18,631 | |
| 1920s | 22,875 | |
| 1930s | 14,250 | |
| 1940s | 9,272 | |
| 1950s | 6,861 | |
| 1960s | 3,696 | |
| 1970s | 1,134 | |
| 1980s | 512 | |
| 1990s | 191 | |
| 2000s | 97 | |
| 2010s | 107 | |
| 2020s | 90 |
In 1921, its biggest year
Velma was the 108th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1921 were Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1921.
Names that rose and fell with Velma
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Jewellpeak 1920
- Alleanpeak 1924
- Rubyepeak 1919
- Blanchiepeak 1925
- Velvapeak 1916
- Maurinepeak 1917
- Corenepeak 1922
- Leomapeak 1920
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.