Verla
Feminine · “true”
Verla is the shortest of the Ver- names, and the group has two possible sources between them. Latin verus means true; Latin vernus means of the spring. Verna, Vernell, Vernice and Verla all sit somewhere between those two words, and none of them settles which.
How old is the name Verla?
Verla first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Verla alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 1,600 people named Verla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Verla most popular?
Verla peaked in 1922, reaching #488 nationally. See the whole 1922 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Verla
American naming of the late nineteenth century produced a large group of short women's names ending in -la: Verla, Zella, Nola, Vela, Ola. Most were built rather than inherited, assembled from a syllable and an ending in the same way that later traditions would assemble names from prefixes and endings. The method is the same and only the inventory changed. What makes this group harder to trace than the later ones is that its components were often real Latin fragments, so a name that was built can look as though it descended.
Meaningscholars disagree
true
Latin verus, true, gives Vera and the whole family of names about truthfulness — and Vera is also a Russian name meaning faith, which is a separate word that happens to match. Latin vernus, of the spring, gives Verna and Vernon. Verla could be built on either, or on neither, since the -la ending was productive on its own in American naming. Two Latin words, both short, both plausible, and no evidence.
Pronouncing Verla
VUR-luh
VUR-luh, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. There is no competing reading and the spelling has never varied, which is unusual in a name with no settled source.
Nicknames for Verla
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 1922199 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #488reached in 1922
- Change vs 1978
- +28.6%9 in 1983, from 7
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.
Verla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vera in Latin — related form
Verlas among us
people named Verla 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
Verla sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables, said correctly by everyone on first sight.
- A V at the front is uncommon and gives a short name something distinctive.
- Vera is available as a near relative with a documented meaning in two languages.
- Verna, Velma and Verla are all close in sound and all belong to the same period.
- The origin is not settled, so any meaning offered is a choice between two Latin words.
- The name belongs firmly to an earlier American century and has not returned.
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Verla
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Verlas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Verla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Verla in 2025?
- Verla is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Verla with classmates?
- Verla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More V names
The most-given names starting with V, all years combined.
Virginia#525 · Victoria#54 · Valerie#127 · Vanessa#377 · Vivian#70 · Veronica#427 · Violet#13 · Vicki
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Verla? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Verla and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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