Del
Masculine
Del is given to both — 4,298 boys and 672 girls since 1880. See Del as a girl 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 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Del alive today was born around 1959, making them about 66 years old. About 2,900 people named Del are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Del most popular?
Del peaked in 1958, reaching #644 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,599 places below that high. See the whole 1958 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
- 1909
- Most boys named
- 1959140 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #644reached in 1958
- Change vs 2023
- −35.7%9 in 2025, from 14
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
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Del
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Del
- #8243
- Del on the 2025 chart
- #913
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Del went to 9 boys in 2025, but Dell is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 15, which makes it the 913th most-given boys’ name of the year — 7,330 places above the chart.
- Del9
- Dell6
About 1 boy in 113,872 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 189,786 for Del itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Arlin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Del's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arlin climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arlin's path sketches the road Del is walking now.
Del sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Del beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Del in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Del
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
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 2,900 people named Del are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Del?
- Del is the most-used spelling in US records — 9 of the 15 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Dell.
- How popular is the name Del in 2025?
- Del ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Del?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Del — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Del with classmates?
- Del will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Del
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Del? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Del and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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