Deforest
Masculine
Deforest is a French-descended American surname put to use as a first name, which nineteenth-century families did constantly. Its most consequential bearer built the component that made radio, television and the whole of electronics possible, and spent the rest of his life arguing about it in court.
How old is the name Deforest?
Deforest first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Deforest alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 200 people named Deforest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Deforest most popular?
Deforest peaked in 1881, reaching #595 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Deforest
Lee de Forest added a third electrode to a vacuum tube in nineteen-oh-six and produced a device that could amplify a weak electrical signal. It is arguably the single most important component of the twentieth century: without it there is no long-distance telephony, no radio broadcasting, no television, no early computing. He did not fully understand why it worked and said so, and the physics was sorted out by others. What followed was thirty years of litigation with Edwin Armstrong and with AT&T over who had invented what, cases that went to the Supreme Court twice and that most engineers think were decided wrongly. He founded and lost a series of companies, was tried for fraud and acquitted, called himself the father of radio, and complained bitterly about what broadcasting had done with his invention.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The surname is French, meaning from the forest, of the ordinary locative kind. Which family any given household meant by it is not recorded, and American naming took a great many surnames this way without any connection to the families that held them.
Pronouncing Deforest
duh-FOR-est
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The French original separates the particle, which American usage closed up.
Nicknames for Deforest
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 192026 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #595reached in 1881
- Change vs 1995
- −28.6%5 in 2001, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Deforests among us
people named Deforest are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Deforest sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Forrest detaches cleanly and is a complete name.
- The stress falls where an English reader expects it.
- It is genuinely rare while being entirely readable at first sight.
- De Forest, DeForest and Deforrest are all recorded and the spelling will need giving.
- It reads unmistakably as a surname, which suits some settings and not others.
- Nothing records which family a given household meant.
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Deforest
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Deforests are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Deforest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Deforest in 2025?
- Deforest is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Deforest with classmates?
- Deforest will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
David#35 · Daniel#22 · Donald#690 · Dennis#707 · Douglas#807 · Dylan#41 · Danny#628 · Dale#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Deforest? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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