Head to head · Girls' names
Scottie vs Valerie
#126 vs #127 in 2025
Scottie is a whisker ahead (#126 vs #127 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Scottie is climbing the charts fast, Valerie is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Scottie and Valerie each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Scottie #921, Valerie #941 — Scottie higher
- 1890s: Scottie —, Valerie #833 — Valerie higher
- 1900s: Scottie #1713, Valerie #726 — Valerie higher
- 1910s: Scottie #2497, Valerie #514 — Valerie higher
- 1920s: Scottie #2979, Valerie #543 — Valerie higher
- 1930s: Scottie #2403, Valerie #334 — Valerie higher
- 1940s: Scottie #2042, Valerie #187 — Valerie higher
- 1950s: Scottie #2453, Valerie #84 — Valerie higher
- 1960s: Scottie #2801, Valerie #71 — Valerie higher
- 1970s: Scottie #4027, Valerie #93 — Valerie higher
- 1980s: Scottie #4737, Valerie #86 — Valerie higher
- 1990s: Scottie #6727, Valerie #146 — Valerie higher
- 2000s: Scottie #12364, Valerie #155 — Valerie higher
- 2010s: Scottie #6663, Valerie #163 — Valerie higher
- 2020s: Scottie #721, Valerie #144 — Valerie higher
Valerie stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Valerie has held the lead since the 1890s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Scottie | Valerie |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #921 | #941 |
| 1890s | — | #833 |
| 1900s | #1713 | #726 |
| 1910s | #2497 | #514 |
| 1920s | #2979 | #543 |
| 1930s | #2403 | #334 |
| 1940s | #2042 | #187 |
| 1950s | #2453 | #84 |
| 1960s | #2801 | #71 |
| 1970s | #4027 | #93 |
| 1980s | #4737 | #86 |
| 1990s | #6727 | #146 |
| 2000s | #12364 | #155 |
| 2010s | #6663 | #163 |
| 2020s | #721 | #144 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Scottie
a Scot; someone from Scotland
Scottie is the pet form of Scott, from the Old English byname Scott, 'a Gael, a Scot'. The older Latin Scotti first named Gaelic-speaking people of Ireland who settled in what became Scotland.
Scotti → Scott → Scotty → Scottie
How it traveled
The root is a people, not a word for a quality: Latin writers used Scotti for Gaelic speakers from Ireland, some of whom crossed to the west of what is now Scotland, and the name traveled back into English as a byname for such a person. It hardened into a surname, then — as so many British surnames did — into a first name, common enough in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to earn its own affectionate short forms, Scotty and Scottie.
Valerie
to be strong; to be in good health
The Roman family name is built on the verb valere, to be strong or well, which also gives English valid, value, valor, convalesce and the farewell vale. The name is an assertion about the family rather than a description of a person.
Valerius → Valeria → Valérie → Valerie
How it traveled
Valerian was captured by the Persian king Shapur in the third century, and he is the only Roman emperor ever taken alive by a foreign enemy. What happened to him afterwards is disputed — Roman sources, written by people with reasons to make it worse, say he was used as a footstool for mounting a horse and eventually flayed and stuffed; Persian sources say nothing of the kind and imply he was held in reasonable conditions with his captured soldiers put to work building a dam in Khuzestan that is still standing.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Scottie
SKOT-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with 'dotty'. No one in an English-speaking country will need it spelled out loud — though they may need the -ie ending confirmed.
- Scott — The full form behind the pet name; still widely used as a standalone given name, mostly for men, and an easy formal option on paper.
- Scotty — The other standard spelling of the same short form, used interchangeably in speech and often by an older generation.
- Scots — Informal, family-level shortening; not used in writing.
Valerie
VAL-uh-ree
Three syllables with the stress at the front in English. French puts an accent on the second e and stresses the last syllable, so the French and English versions of the same spelling sound quite different.
- Val — The front of the name, and a familiar form for either sex.
- Vallie — The affectionate form, built on the same front.
- Lerie — Cut from the back, which sounds unrelated to the whole.
Who has carried each name
Scottie
No documented entry for Scottie yet.
Valerie
Valerie Bertinelli (b. 1960) — Beloved sitcom star and Food Network host
Valerie Harper (b. 1939) — TV's Rhoda
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Scottie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 1,200 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesScottie is 2 syllables to Valerie's 3
- a name that feels very nowScottie is climbing the charts fast
Choose Valerie if you want…
- a name holding steadyValerie is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itValerie runs 3 syllables, Scottie 2
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 25% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 68% for Scottie
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Scottie
Strengths
- Instantly readable and sayable in English: nobody has to be told how to pronounce it.
- Comes with a ready-made formal option, Scott, if a longer version is ever wanted on a document.
- Fits the large family of -ie names given to both girls and boys — Charlie, Frankie, Bobbie — so it will not sound out of place in a classroom.
To consider
- Scottie and Scotty are both standard, so expect a lifetime of gentle corrections about which ending you use.
- It reads as a nickname to many people. Some will assume there is a longer name behind it and ask what it is short for.
- The Scottish Terrier is called a Scottie, and the Monopoly dog is one. It is a mild, mostly friendly association, but it is there.
Valerie
Strengths
- Val comes off it at once and works in any setting.
- The meaning is documented and positive without being abstract.
- It exists across most of Europe, so it travels without being rebuilt.
To consider
- It has been common for several decades, so a classroom may hold more than one.
- Valarie and Valeri are both recorded and will be written for it.
- The French original stresses it differently, which matters in a bilingual family.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Scottie
68%chance Scottie feels dated by 2040
Scottie is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Valerie
25%chance Valerie feels dated by 2040
Valerie peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Scottie and Valerie in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Scottie and Valerie?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Scottie and Valerie — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Scottie or Valerie — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Scottie or Valerie?
- Scottie, in 2025: Scottie ranked #126 with 2,228 babies; Valerie ranked #127 with 2,221 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Scottie or Valerie?
- Scottie. Over the last five years Scottie moved up 1,200 places; Valerie moved up 17 places.
- Which is the older name, Scottie or Valerie?
- Scottie entered the US charts in 1885; Valerie entered the US charts in 1884. On the American record, Valerie is the older name.
- How many people are named Scottie and Valerie?
- About 6,300 people named Scottie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 244,000 people named Valerie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Scotties or Valeries in the classroom?
- Scottie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Valerie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Scottie, Valerie and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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