Name Awesome

Valdis

Boys' name

Rule

Valdis has been given to 82 babies in the U.S. since 1952. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1971, with 13 recorded.

Babies named Valdis, 1978

1 in 635,000

Valdis over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Valdis: meaning, origin, and history

Rule

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Valdis means

Valdis means “rule”, associated with valdīt.

Origin, language, and formation

Valdis is used in Faroese and Latvian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Valdemārs.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 82 boys were recorded with the name Valdis between 1952 and 1978. Its highest annual count was 13 in 1971; its best national rank was #2,804 in 1971.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Valdis?

Valdis had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1978, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1978
1 in 635,000
5 of 3,173,639 births
Among boys only
1 in 328,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1978
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
439,961 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Valdis sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1978 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 439,961 children born in 1978 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Valdis. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Valdiss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Valdis was born before 1969 — so the typical Valdis is around 56 today.

Median birth year
1969
About 56 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
48.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
86.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
82
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 48.8% of all recorded uses (40).

Is Valdis rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1971 (13)
Years since peak
54
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,804
1971

Spellings of Valdis

Valdis is not the most common spelling — Alvis is, with 37.3% against Valdis's 0.59%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Valdis around the world

Where Valdis ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • South Australia
    1950–1982
    #424
    in 1982

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Valdis by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,804
1971
Peak year
1971
13 that year
First recorded
1952
Last recorded
1978
All-time count
82
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Valdis

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ValeryValleyVallenValencioValensValiantVallieVallonValeriaValeValdezValinAvedisValtonValerioCledisValjeanValgeneCordisValoValmoreValdonValdoValon

Sibling names for Valdis

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Valdis

Top names of 1971, Valdis's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1971Boys' names starting with VLatvian Boy NamesLatvian Names