Recorded 1914–2025 · United States
Valerian was most popular in 2018, when 24 American babies were given the name — ranking #9,103 that year. In 2025 it ranked #9,389, with 23 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 503 people named Valerian.
Valerian first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1914, which makes it about 111 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 50 of the 112 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 503 American births named Valerian between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 219 are estimated to be alive today.
23 American babies were named Valerian in 2025, ranking #9,389 that year.
Valerian is new. It was not recorded at all a decade ago and averaged 17 births a year across 2021–2025.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Valerian is a boy’s name — 1.2% of the 503 Americans given it were girls and 98.8% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 219 Americans named Valerian are alive today — 44% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 7 years old, and half are between 4 and 56. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
See Valerian on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org