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Delia

Feminine · “of Delos”

Delia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 37,318 girls against 62 boys since 1880.

1880high 1957
#1561 in the U.S.stepping back from its peak
falling135 girls in 2025

Delia is an island. Delos was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis in Greek myth, and Delia is an epithet of the goddess — the one from Delos.

How old is the name Delia?

Delia was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Delia alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 22,500 people named Delia are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Delia most popular?

Delia peaked in 1880, reaching #126 nationally. Today it ranks #1561, 1,435 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.

Compare this nameMore “D” names

Delia appears on this list:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Delia

Delos was one of the great sanctuaries of the Greek world and the treasury of the Delian League, and Delia was a standard poetic name for Artemis and then for the moon. Renaissance and Augustan poets used it heavily as a pastoral name — Samuel Daniel addressed a whole sonnet sequence to a Delia in 1592. It entered ordinary English use from there and peaked in America around 1880.

Meaning

of Delos

From the Greek island of Delos, whose name means 'brought to light' or 'made visible', from a verb meaning to reveal — the island was said to have risen from the sea to give Leto a place to give birth. Delia is the feminine epithet, matching Delius for Apollo.

How the name formed

  1. Delos
  2. Delia

Related forms: Delia · Delia · Delia · Δηλία

Pronouncing Delia

DEE-lee-uh

Three syllables, stress on the first. Italian and Spanish say DEH-lya with two.

Nicknames for Delia

Moderate

DeeThe front sound alone, and a name in its own right with a long record
LiaThe back of the name, and a name of its own across Europe
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What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1880–2025490245049013518802025

US babies named Delia per year from 1880 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#1261880s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1880
Most girls named
1957490 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#126reached in 1880
Change vs 2022
+3.8%135 in 2025, from 130
Delia is past its biggest year. The count topped out at 490 girls in 1957 and has eased 72% since — the slow half of a naming cycle, where a name stays familiar while getting steadily less common. The move since 2022: up 3.8%.

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.

Delia in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Delia in Italian — same name
  • Delia in Spanish — same name
  • Delia in Romanian — same name
  • Δηλία in Greek — transliteration

Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.

Delias among us

22,500

people named Delia are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 11,906 born in 2025 was named Delia

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Delia

#1561
Delia on the 2025 chart
#798
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Delia went to 135 girls in 2025, but Deliah and Deliyah are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 162, which makes it the 798th most-given girls’ name of the year — 763 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 9,921 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 11,906 for Delia 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

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Is it right for you

Fashion outlook

Delia 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.

40%chance Delia will feel dated by 2040
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Delia is headed

18802030

US babies named Delia per year, 1880 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Delia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady-2% by 2030projected around #1,670 in 2030

High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Delia beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Delia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Deliathis name135#1561Rayla135#1561Emori135#1561Frida135#1561Kalina135#1561

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • A documented sacred island and a goddess's epithet stand behind it.
  • It is standard in Italian, Spanish and Romanian without any change of spelling.
  • Dee and Lia are two short forms at very different registers.
What to consider
  • The syllable count differs between English and Romance-language use.
  • It is period-coded to the late nineteenth century in American records.

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What they receive

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Delia

Feminine · #1561 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Delias are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,500 people named Delia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Delia?
Delia is the most-used spelling in US records — 135 of the 162 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Deliah and Deliyah.
How popular is the name Delia in 2025?
Delia ranks #1561 among US girl names in 2025, with 135 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Delia?
About 1 in every 11,906 US girls born in 2025 was named Delia — 135 in all.
Will my child share the name Delia with classmates?
Delia will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Delia

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Rayla#1561 · Emori#1561 · Frida#1561 · Kalina#1561 · Ela#1561 · Kollins#1561 · Eliani#1561 · Keeley#1561

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Delia? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Delia and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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