Valkyrie
Feminine · “chooser of the slain”
Valkyrie is a chooser of the slain — valr, the corpses on a battlefield, and kjósa, to choose, which is exactly what they did.
How old is the name Valkyrie?
Valkyrie first appears in US birth records in 1992 — 33 years ago. The typical Valkyrie is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,300 people named Valkyrie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Valkyrie most popular?
Valkyrie peaked in 2022, reaching #1451 nationally. Today it ranks #1911, 460 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Valkyrie appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From valr kjósa to Valkyrie
The story of Valkyrie
The valkyries appear throughout Norse literature choosing the dead and serving in Valhalla; Brynhildr is one. Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries made them a fixture of European culture. The name entered American given-name use in the 2010s among the mythological word-names and appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
chooser of the slain
From the Old Norse valkyrja — valr, 'the slain' or 'those fallen in battle', and kjósa, 'to choose'. The valkyries selected who died and carried half of them to Valhalla. Both elements are ordinary Norse and the compound is transparent and undisputed.
How the name formed
- valr kjósa
- valkyrja
- Valkyrie
Related forms: Valkyrja · Walküre · Valkyrie
Pronouncing Valkyrie
VAL-kuh-ree
Three syllables, stress on the first. Some speakers say val-KEER-ee with the stress in the middle.
Nicknames for Valkyrie
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
- 1992
- Most girls named
- 2022153 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1451reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −9.0%101 in 2025, from 111
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.
Valkyrie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Valkyrja in Old Norse — related form
- Walküre in German — related form
- Valkyrie in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Valkyries among us
people named Valkyrie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 15,914 born in 2025 was named Valkyrie
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 Tytiana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Valkyrie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tytiana climbed just as high around 1999, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tytiana's path sketches the road Valkyrie is walking now.
Valkyrie 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
Where Valkyrie is headed
Valkyrie should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Valkyrie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Valkyrie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The chooser-of-the-slain meaning is concrete, vivid and undisputed.
- Val and Kyrie are two short forms, both names in their own right.
- Three syllables with a front stress, which holds up against a short surname.
- The meaning is about choosing who dies, which some families will weigh.
- The stress placement splits between two readings.
- It is very new as a given name.
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What they receive
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Valkyrie
Feminine · #1911 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Valkyries 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 Valkyrie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Valkyrie in 2025?
- Valkyrie ranks #1911 among US girl names in 2025, with 101 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Valkyrie?
- About 1 in every 15,914 US girls born in 2025 was named Valkyrie — 101 in all.
- Will my child share the name Valkyrie with classmates?
- Valkyrie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Valkyrie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Wesley#1911 · Jazzlyn#1911 · Philomena#1911 · Susie#1911 · Sahana#1911 · Carlee#1911 · Chosen#1911 · Lillith#1911
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Valkyrie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Valkyrie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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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