I have an idea for a genderfluid character named Valentine, they’re a charming and somewhat prideful kind of person, and fairly young, teen-to-twenties range. Valentine also goes by Val, Valentina, and Valentino depending on how they present. But I am struggling to find what their ethnic group is. Halp!
I’m getting Castlevania vibes with the name/s…
SD
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Depends on several factors as to the best fit:
Valentine comes from Rome, the
through French to become an English word, so someone who is archaic would be Roman or later French, to have this name. valentine | Etymology, origin and meaning of the name valentine by etymonline
As a surname it is Scott-English.
Valentine Name Meaning & Valentine Family History at Ancestry.com®(Angus%20and,the%20result%20of%20French%20influence.
The Roman surname is Valentius.
So, overwhelmingly this is a white name.
“This name is most often used as a last name, 84% of the time.”
Which is a good place to add in another ethnicity: plenty of people are named after a last name from their grandparent’s generation. Know a woman named Mescal for her mom’s mom’s maiden name.
So, someone could be an 8th white and anything else under the sun to fit in with the dominance of the name.
In America, statistically, it’s over 50% white, about 30% Hispanic, 7% black, 3% Pacific Islander less than 1% for 2 or more races, or any other ethnicity. Top 3 states/areas are Hawaii, North Dakota, and Washington DC.
But these are the common last names of 1st names of Valentine:
So, by LAST name combination? It’s more commonly Hispanic.
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Now the questions after this is settings, demographics of the area, how well they fit in with their surrounding culture, etc.
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Or just Churro it up and make your own town/culture based on real life ones 
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I created a Valentine Salazar!
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Yay! 
That’s a start!
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Well, yeah. It’s just that the white/hispanic pull is strong on the name, is all. I can think of dozens of excuses to get there.
Valentine is a Saint. Catholics take on the names of their patron saints. So, you could have, deep in the depths of central Africa some dude named Mahimbo or something who took on the name of his Patron, to become Valentine as he wanders the world experiencing new cultures.
It just makes him an oddity. So, it depends on if you want this person to fit in or to stand out so much that you better be careful about how you write him.
But then, like I’m that careful.
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Interesting story idea.
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I still come up with them this could be a religious spoof of Afro Samurai.
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Do it!!
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