Orval
Masculine · “golden valley”
Orval is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 7,916 boys against 12 girls since 1880.
Orval sits between a French place name meaning golden valley and the American habit of building names from familiar syllables. Both explanations fit, and the registers do not choose.
How old is the name Orval?
Orval was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Orval alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 1,300 people named Orval are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Orval most popular?
Orval peaked in 1902, reaching #291 nationally. See the whole 1902 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Orval
Our story of Orval begins in registers where Orville, Orlando, Orin and Orpha were already common, and where -val and -vel endings were doing steady work. A name that borrowed from both would sound established the first time anyone heard it. It went down on certificates across the American Midwest and South from the 1880s, peaked around 1920, and left no note about which of its several possible parents anyone had in mind.
Meaningscholars disagree
golden valley
The French place name Orval — from or, 'gold', and val, 'valley' — is a real place and a plausible source, though there is no documented line from it to the American name. The alternative reads Orval as a variant of Orville or as a coinage on the Or- and -val elements that nineteenth-century American naming used freely. Neither is established.
Pronouncing Orval
OR-vul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Orval and Orvel are said identically.
Nicknames for Orval
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1918304 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #291reached in 1902
- Change vs 1992
- +16.7%7 in 1995, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Orval in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Orval in French — same name
- Orville in English — related form
- Orvel in English — spelling variant
Orvals among us
people named Orval are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Orval has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The golden-valley reading is attractive and the French place is genuine.
- Orv and Val are both available and are very different in feel.
- Two firm syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
- The origin is genuinely unsettled between a French place and an American coinage.
- It is strongly period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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Orval
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Orvals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Orval are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Orval in 2025?
- Orval is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Orval with classmates?
- Orval will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More O names
The most-given names starting with O, all years combined.
Oliver#3 · Owen#31 · Oscar#223 · Omar#260 · Otis#652 · Orlando#871 · Otto#277 · Orville#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Orval? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Orval and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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