Valentine - Origin and Meaning of the name

The boy name Valentine [ 3 syll. va-len-ti-ne, val-ent-ine ] is sometimes used as a girl name. Its pronunciation is VAELahNTAYN ^KEY. Valentine is an English name of Latin origin. Developed from the element 'valens' meaning healthy, strong. Valentinus (Latin) is an original form of Valentine. The first name is from the Roman nickname Valentinus, which is ultimately derived from the Latin 'valens'. The name Saint Valentine was borne by various saints of ancient Rome, most notably the 3rd century martyr who was imprisoned by Claudius II for marrying Christian couples who were being persecuted; he was eventually executed for trying to convert the emperor. His feast day is celebrated on February 14; it superseded an ancient pre-Roman pagan festival celebrated around the same time. The association of Saint Valentine and his feast day with romantic love was invented in 14th century England, notably through the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. The name Valentina (Czech, German, and Italian) is the female form of Valentine.

Valentine has 13 variants, which are mainly used in other languages. Variants of Valentine include Bálint (Hungarian), Folant (Welsh), Tino (Italian), Uailean (Scottish), Ualan (Scottish), Valente (Italian), Valentim (Portuguese), Valentin (Czech, French, German, Russian, and Scandinavian), Valentino (Italian), Valentín (Spanish), Velten (German), and Walenty (Polish).

Valentine is uncommon as a baby name for boys. At the modest height of its usage in 1903, 0.019% of baby boys were given the name Valentine. It ranked at #409 then. The baby name has since markedly fallen in popularity, and is today of very light use. Within the group of boy names directly linked to Valentine, Valentin (Czech, French, German, Russian, and Scandinavian) was the most regularly used in 2007. Valentine has in the past century been mostly given to boys. In 1917, the name Valentine was given to 2 times as many boys than girls.

Baby names that sound like Valentine include Valentim (Portuguese), Valentin (Czech, French, German, Russian, and Scandinavian), Valentín (Spanish), and Valentino (Italian).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Valentine: V as in "vee (V.IY)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; T as in "tea (T.IY)" ; AY as in "hide (HH.AY.D)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"

A famous person named Valentine is Saint Saint Valentine.

Popularity Trend
for Valentine
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Valentine
in 2007