Valma

Girls' name

Poppy

Valma has been given to 388 babies in the U.S. since 1900. 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 1919, with 20 recorded.

Babies named Valma, 1964

1 in 648,000

Valma over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Valma: meaning, origin, and history

Poppy

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Valma means

Valma means “poppy”, associated with valmu.

Origin, language, and formation

Valma is used in Finnish.

Valma is a modern formation.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Valma is pronounced /ˈʋɑlmɑ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 388 girls were recorded with the name Valma between 1900 and 1964. Its highest annual count was 20 in 1919; its best national rank was #1,308 in 1900.

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 Valma?

Valma had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1964, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1964: 1 in 648,000; 6 of 3,887,460 births
Among girls only: 1 in 316,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1964: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 449,098 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Valma sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1964 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 449,098 children born in 1964 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Valma. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Valmas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Valma was born before 1924 — so the typical Valma is around 101 today.

Median birth year: 1924; About 101 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 33.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 18.3%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 50; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 33.5% of all recorded uses (130).

Is Valma 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 1919 (20)
Years since peak: 106; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 31.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,308; 1900

Spellings of Valma

Valma is not the most common spelling — Alma is, with 20.0% against Valma's 0.05%.

Alma20.0%163,723
Wilma17.1%140,101
Velma10.6%86,752
Talia4.2%34,154
Malia3.9%31,606
Alta3.5%28,931
Selma3.3%26,881
Elma2.7%21,703

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.

Valma around the world

Where Valma 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
1944–2002
#730
in 2002

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

Valma by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,308; 1900
Peak year: 1919; 20 that year
First recorded: 1900
Last recorded: 1964
All-time count: 388
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Valma

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

Valen Valyn Valli Valor Valora Vale Valory Valena Vala Valia Valley Telma Valera Valla Valynn Valina Ilma Valeda Vallery Valisa Valeska Vallee Valori Valta

Sibling names for Valma

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

For a sister

Lovie Hortense Lue Theda Rubye Winnifred Johnie Norine

For a brother

Casimir Edd Ora Mahlon Haywood Buck Wilber Dee

Explore around Valma

Top names of 1919, Valma's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1900 Girls' names starting with V Uncommon Finnish Girl Names