Valmai

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Valmai is an English feminine given name derived from the Welsh phrase fel Mai, meaning "like May." It was created by Welsh novelist Allen Raine for the heroine of her 1899 romance novel By Berwen Banks. A 1920 British silent film adaptation of the novel helped spread the name, featuring Valmai Powell as a character. The heroine inspired girls in English-speaking countries to be named Valmai. There are several spelling variants: Falmai, Felmai, Valmae, Valmaie, Valmay, Valmaye, with Val as a common short form. Valmai was especially popular in Australia and New Zealand during the 1920s and 1930s, and it ranked among New Zealand’s top 100 names from 1928 to 1933. It was also used in the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent in the United States, in the first half of the 20th century.