Valerie
Meaning of Valerie
Valerie is the French form of Valeria, the feminine of Valerius, a Roman family name usually traced to the Latin verb valere, meaning to be strong or healthy. It is pronounced VAL-uh-ree in English and va-luh-REE in French, where it is spelled Valérie.
American actress Valerie Harper won four Emmys as Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Rhoda. New Zealand's Dame Valerie Adams is a two-time Olympic shot put champion. The name is also the title of a song by the Zutons, best known in Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse's version.
In the United States, Valerie peaked in 1959, ranking 60th with 7,302 babies. It later fell as low as 180th in 2004, but in 2025 it ranked 127th with 2,221 babies, up from 147th in 2024.
Pronunciation
French
- Pronunced as va-luh-REE (/va.lɛ.ʁi/)
English
- Pronunced as VAL-uh-ree (/ˈvæləri/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Valerie
| Valerie Plame is an American writer and former CIA officer whose identity was leaked in 2003, sparking a media firestorm she later called mortifying. |
| Dame Valerie Adams is a retired New Zealand shot putter, a two time Olympic and four time world champion who holds Oceanian and New Zealand records with a best of 21.24 meters. |
| Valerie Harper was an American actress best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, earning four Emmys including one for lead actress. |
| Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos - Baroness Valerie Amos is a British Labour politician and diplomat who served as UN humanitarian chief, UK High Commissioner to Australia, and Leader of the House of Lords. |
| Valerie Muriel Rodway was a Guyanese composer who set national poetry to music around the independence of Guyana in 1966, creating patriotic songs taught to schoolchildren for decades. |
| Valerie June Hockett is a Grammy nominated American singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, and author who blends southern roots with a cosmopolitan mix of folk, rock, country soul, and blues, and is signed to Concord Music Group. |
| Valerie Bertinelli is an American actress and TV personality who rose from child roles to fame in One Day at a Time, earning two Golden Globes and later starring in TV films and the sitcom Sydney. |
| Valerie L Thomas is an American data scientist and inventor who patented the illusion transmitter in 1980 and developed early NASA Landsat image processing formats. |
| Valerie Perrine is a retired American actress who won BAFTA and Cannes awards for Lenny, earned an Oscar nomination, and appeared in Superman, The Electric Horseman, and Superman II. |
| Valerie Brisco-Hooks won three gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, becoming the first athlete to win both the 200 and 400 meter races at a single Olympics. |
| Valerie Bradford is a Canadian Liberal politician who won the Kitchener South-Hespeler seat in 2021 but lost it to Conservative Matt Strauss in 2025. |
| Valerie Le Zimring-Schneiderman is a former American rhythmic gymnast who competed at the 1984 Olympics and finished 11th in the all around. |
| Valérie Pécresse - Valerie Anne Emilie Pecresse is a French politician of The Republicans who has been president of the Ile de France regional council since 2015, after serving as higher education and budget minister and government spokeswoman under Francois Fillon and as an MP for Yvelines. |
| Valérie Plante - Valerie Plante is a Canadian politician who has served as Montreal’s mayor since 2017 and led Projet Montreal from December 2016 to March 2025 after first winning a city council seat in 2013. |
