Valli
Feminine
Valli is a hunter's daughter in Tamil tradition, raised in the millet fields, who marries the god Murugan after he courts her in a series of disguises. She is one of the very few consorts in Indian myth who is neither royal nor divine by birth.
How old is the name Valli?
Valli first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Valli alive today was born around 1956, making them about 69 years old. About 600 people named Valli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Valli most popular?
Valli peaked in 1952, reaching #1297 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 5,249 places below that high. See the whole 1952 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Valli to Valli
The story of Valli
The story of Murugan and Valli belongs to Tamil devotional literature rather than to the Sanskrit epics, and its emphasis on a god courting a tribal girl through trickery and disguise is one of the reasons it is so widely loved in Tamil Nadu; Valli is one of the two consorts of Murugan and is worshipped alongside him. The name is ordinary across Tamil-speaking communities. Its American record is more mixed: a best year of 1952 places it with the mid-century fashion for short Italian-looking women's names, and both routes appear in the data without any way to tell them apart.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Tamil Valli is a name of uncertain derivation, sometimes connected to a word for a creeping vine. Separately Valli exists as an Italian surname and as an English short form of Valerie, from the Roman gens Valerius, connected to valere, to be strong. The doubled l suits both the Tamil and the Italian, and the American name may come from either.
How the name formed
- Valli
- Valli
Related forms: Valli · Valli · Vallie
Pronouncing Valli
VAH-lee
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Tamil holds the doubled l longer than English does, which is the one detail English speakers do not reproduce.
Nicknames for Valli
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
- 1920
- Most girls named
- 195254 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1297reached in 1952
- Change vs 2024
- +13.3%17 in 2025, from 15
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.
Valli in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Valli in Tamil — same name
- Valli in Italian — related form
- Vallie in English — spelling variant
Vallis among us
people named Valli are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Valli
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 Wauneta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Valli's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wauneta climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wauneta's path sketches the road Valli is walking now.
Valli 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
Valli beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Valli in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A memorable figure in Tamil tradition behind it.
- Val is a short form that works in every English-speaking setting.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty.
- Two completely unrelated traditions share the spelling.
- It will be assumed to shorten Valerie in English-speaking settings.
- Vallie and Valli both appear in American records.
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What they receive
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Valli
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vallis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Valli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Valli in 2025?
- Valli ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Valli?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Valli — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Valli with classmates?
- Valli will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Valli
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Valli? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Valli and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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