Valena
Feminine · “probably 'strong”
Valena is one of a large family of American names built on the -ena ending that Helena and Selena made desirable, attached to a Latin stem about strength. It sat inside the top seventeen hundred in the 1900s, which places it with Verna, Velma, Alvena and Elvena — a whole generation of vowel-heavy names that American records carried for thirty years and then dropped.
How old is the name Valena?
Valena first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Valena alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 500 people named Valena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Valena most popular?
Valena peaked in 1907, reaching #1639 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 4,083 places below that high. See the whole 1907 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From valere to Valena
The story of Valena
Between about 1880 and 1920 American parents produced an unusually large number of names of this shape: two or three syllables, ending in -ena, -ina or -ma, built on a recognizable European stem. Alvena, Elvena, Verlena, Velma, Almena, Valena. Many were assembled locally rather than imported; German, Scandinavian and Appalachian communities all produced their own. The stems were usually genuine — the Latin valere, the Germanic adal or alf — and the endings were chosen for sound. Valena belongs to that workshop, which is why it can be traced to a root but not to a language that ever used this exact form.
Meaningscholars disagree
probably 'strong, healthy', from the Latin root of Valeria
The most likely stem is Latin valere, 'to be strong, to be well', the root behind Valeria, Valentina, valid and convalescent. That gives Valena its sense. But the name is not attested as a classical form, and it may equally be a shortening of Valentina, a respelling of Velina, or a Slavic diminutive that lost its ending in America. The -ena terminal is doing a lot of the work, and it came from Helena rather than from Latin.
How the name formed
- valere
- Valeria
- Valena
Related forms: Valeria · Valentina · Valina
Pronouncing Valena
vuh-LEE-nuh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. A second saying, vuh-LAY-nuh with the vowel of lane, is also heard, and older American records suggest both were in use from the start. The spelling does not decide.
Nicknames for Valena
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 202521 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1639reached in 1907
- Change vs 2023
- +110.0%21 in 2025, from 10
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.
Valena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Valeria in Latin — related form
- Valentina in Italian — related form
- Valina in English — spelling variant
Valenas among us
people named Valena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Valena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Valena sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Valena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Valena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Val and Lena are both familiar short forms that need no explanation.
- The spelling is short and phonetic, and gives English readers little trouble.
- It is rare enough to be individual while sounding entirely traditional.
- Two vowel readings circulate for the middle syllable.
- It will be heard as Valerie, Velina or Elena on first meeting.
- The exact origin cannot be pinned down, so there is no clean one-word meaning.
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Valena
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Valenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Valena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Valena in 2025?
- Valena ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Valena?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Valena — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Valena with classmates?
- Valena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Valena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Valena? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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