Del
Feminine
Del is given to both — 672 girls and 4,298 boys since 1880. See Del as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Del is three letters that half a dozen longer names produce, registered on its own and held in the record for daughters as well as sons. The English word its letters open is a clipping of a German word that German had taken from French, which is three languages deep for a sandwich counter.
How old is the name Del?
Del first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Del alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 400 people named Del are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Del most popular?
Del peaked in 1956, reaching #1931 nationally. See the whole 1956 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Del
A deli is a German word that Germans borrowed from French. Delikatessen is the plural of a German noun meaning a delicacy, itself taken from the French délicatesse, from the Latin delicatus. German speakers brought the word and the shops to American cities in the nineteenth century; American English clipped the long word down to deli in the nineteen-fifties, which is when the sandwich counter as most people picture it took its modern form. The chain is a good illustration of how borrowings compound: Latin to French to German to American English, with a shortening at the end that no earlier speaker would recognize. The related English word delicate arrived straight from Latin by a different route and means something quite different, which is usual for words that take two roads.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Delbert, Adelbert, Delmar, Delroy and a set of surnames all produce this short form, and they do not share an origin. Registered alone, it points back to none of them, and the record holds it for children of both sexes.
Pronouncing Del
DELL
One syllable. Three letters, no ambiguity, and nothing that needs explaining to an English speaker.
Nicknames for Del
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 195631 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1931reached in 1956
- Change vs 1970
- −28.6%5 in 1973, 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.
Dels among us
people named Del 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
Del 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
- Three letters fit any field on any form and cannot be misspelled.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- One syllable is quick, clear and hard to mishear.
- Dell and Dale will both be written for it.
- It reads as a short form, and people will ask what it stands for.
- Which longer name it belongs to is not recorded, so the answer has to be a family one.
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Del
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Dels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Del are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Del in 2025?
- Del is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Del with classmates?
- Del will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Del? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Del and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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