Vela vs Velma
American parents have registered 87,202 Velmas since 1880, against 1,082 Velas. Velma is still ahead, with 21 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Vela Velma
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Velma for 134 years and Vela for 12 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.
11 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Vela | Velma | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,082 | 87,202 |
| Most in one year | 38 | 2,613 |
| Babies in 2025 | 17 | 21 |
| Estimated living today | 420 | 20,000 |
| Median age today | 10 | 74 |
| Peak year | 1915 | 1921 |
| Best rank | 1,094th girls | 108th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 6,546th | 5,722nd |
| First recorded | 1888 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 1,082 / 0 | 86,752 / 450 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Velmas alive today are over 74; half the Velas are over 10. That is 64 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Vela Kentucky (9.1×), Texas (5.0×), California (3.4×)
- Velma Arkansas (4.4×), Mississippi (4.1×), Oklahoma (3.9×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Vela and Velma.