Valentino
Masculine · “strong”
Valentino comes from a Roman family of names built on the Latin word for strength and good health, and it carried a third-century martyr whose feast the Western church still keeps in February. Italian and Spanish speakers have used it for centuries, and it arrived in American records early in the twentieth century, when Italian was one of the languages you heard on a city street. Four syllables that land on a long, open TEE.
How old is the name Valentino?
Valentino first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Valentino is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 10,500 people named Valentino are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Valentino most popular?
Valentino peaked in 2025, reaching #444 nationally. Today it ranks #444, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Valentino appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Valens to Valentino
The story of Valentino
The Latin name Valentinus was formed from valens, and it belonged to Roman soldiers, bishops and, most famously, the martyr venerated as Saint Valentine, whose feast on 14 February was attached to romantic love only much later, in the medieval period. From Valentinus the name divided along the languages of Europe: Valentin in French, Spanish and Russian, Valentine in English, and Valentino in Italian, where the -ino ending is the ordinary Italian outcome of Latin -inus. Italian emigration carried the Italian form to the Americas, and it is now at home in Spanish-speaking countries too, which is part of why American records show it strongest in states with deep Italian and Latin American roots.
Meaning
strong, healthy, vigorous
From Latin valens, the present participle of valere, 'to be strong, to be well' — the same root behind English valiant and value.
How the name formed
- Valens
- Valentinus
- Valentin
- Valentino
Related forms: Valentín · Valentin · Valentine · Valentin · Valentim · Walenty
Pronouncing Valentino
val-en-TEE-no
Stress on the third syllable. Italian and Spanish speakers open the first vowel — vah-len-TEE-no — and either version is understood without correction.
Nicknames for Valentino
High
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
- 1910
- Most boys named
- 2025710 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #444reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +22.6%710 in 2025, from 579
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.
Valentino in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Valentín in Spanish — same name
- Valentin in French — same name
- Valentine in English — same name
- Valentin in Russian — transliteration
- Valentim in Portuguese — same name
- Walenty in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Valentinos among us
people named Valentino are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,406 born in 2025 was named Valentino
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Garth test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Valentino's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Garth climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Garth's path sketches the road Valentino is walking now.
Valentino 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Valentino is headed
Valentino looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Valentino beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Valentino in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the same way in English, Italian and Spanish, and read correctly in all three without adjustment.
- An unbroken record from Roman Latin through the medieval church to the present day.
- Two established short forms with different characters: Val in English, Tino in Italian and Spanish.
- Recognizable to almost everyone through the February feast day and through Italian film and fashion, so no one has to be taught the name.
- The February association is permanent and will draw jokes, cards and comments every year. Most bearers find it wears down to background noise, but it never disappears entirely.
- Val, the natural English shortening, is also the short form of Valerie and Valentina, so it is not distinctive on its own.
- Valentina, the feminine form, is currently far more visible in American nurseries than Valentino, and the two are occasionally confused on paperwork.
- Four syllables ask something of a first-grader learning to write their name, and of anyone pairing it with a long surname.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Valentino to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Valentino
Masculine · #444 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Valentinos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Valentino are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Valentino in 2025?
- Valentino ranks #444 among US boy names in 2025, with 710 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Valentino?
- About 1 in every 2,406 US boys born in 2025 was named Valentino — 710 in all.
- Will my child share the name Valentino with classmates?
- Valentino will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Valentino
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Uriel#445 · Apollo#445 · Jalen#442 · Chance#442 · Sergio#441 · Prince#447 · Sylas#440 · Dalton#448
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Valentino? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Valentino and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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