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Valerie was to be my name (1964) until my father decided the ride to the hospital was a good time to bring up changing the name. [Good timing, Dad! :-/ ] So I might not be the most objective on the name. But I do like the perkiness of Valerie. It makes me think of jewel tones for some reason. It's known, but not overly used, which is always nice.

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Dated? I didn't know any Valeries growing up. So it doesn't scream 60s / 70s the way names like Lisa and Kimberly do. Then again, I'm not that bothered by how dated something sounds. I'm more interested in how it's likely to sound in the future, over the course of the child's life. A forty year time lag doesn't seem as bad as a ten year one, if that makes sense. But my bottom line is that just about any classic will wear well, and Valerie has as good a chance as any.

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Valeria is beautiful and I'm glad to see it making the top 100. That sort of surprises me because the only time I've ever seen it on a name board it was hooted out of contention. "It sounds like malaria!" was the general outcry. I was the only one defending the poll parent. Perhaps recent immigrant populations are bringing lovely names like Valeria with them and making them more popular than I realized. (I'm in the U.S. if that matters.)

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Between the two I'd go with zippy Valerie.