Given name & surname
Valdemar
“a well-known ruler”
Valdemar is used as a given name and a surname. One German interpretation is “a well-known ruler.”
Original GermanWaldemar
Meaning & origin
What it means
One German interpretation is “a well-known ruler.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is German.
How it developed
In Scandinavian use, Valdemar is used as a spelling variant of Waldemar.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1912. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Valdemar through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 964
- 964 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2002
- 24 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #13,750 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −58%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 13,750 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 24 in 2002. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,231 as a first name in 2020; 155 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Valdemar’s family of names
In Finnish usage, Valdemar has a short form in VALDE. Valdemar shares a linguistic root with Vladimir. Valdemar has an alternative spelling in Waldemar.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Valdemar has relatives in 14 languages. Lines run from its German roots to each of them.
Germanwhere Valdemar comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 9
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Waldemarvariant · Portuguese, Swedish
- Valdeshort form · Finnish
- Valdimarrvariant
- Valdimarvariant · Faroese
- Valdmarrvariant
- Valdmarvariant
- Valtovariant · Finnish
- Valdemarevariant
Show 1 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 14
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Valdemar
- Valdemar I of DenmarkKing of Denmark1131–1182
- Valdemar II of DenmarkKing of Denmark from 1202 to 12411170–1241
- Valdemar IV of DenmarkKing of Denmark1320–1375
- Valdemar III of DenmarkKing of Denmark and Duke of Schleswig1314–1364
- Valdemar, King of SwedenKing of Sweden (1239–1302)1243–1302
- Valdemar PoulsenDanish engineer (1869-1942)
- Prince Valdemar of DenmarkDanish prince (1858-1939)
- Valdemar the YoungCo-king of Denmark (1209-1231)
- Valdemar LangletSwedish Righteous Among the Nations, publisher and Esperantist (1872-1960)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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