Dell
Masculine · “a small wooded valley”
Dell is given to both — 4,008 boys and 2,544 girls since 1880. See Dell as a girl nameSee other names given to both
A dell is a small wooded valley, and the word is Old English and still alive — just. It survives mostly in place names and in poetry, it is related to the word dale, and it names a specific kind of ground: a hollow with trees in it.
How old is the name Dell?
Dell was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Dell alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 2,000 people named Dell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dell most popular?
Dell peaked in 1880, reaching #465 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 10,230 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From dell to Dell
The story of Dell
The word is also the back half of a long list of American names, which is why it turns up as a short form so often: Odell, Idell, Ardell, Wendell, Cordell and Rendell all end in it, and a family using any of them has Dell available without thinking about it. That gives the name two quite separate lives — a word name taken from the landscape, and a short form of half a dozen longer names that have nothing to do with valleys. Both are in the American record from the first year of the count.
Meaning
a small wooded valley
The Old English dell is related to dale and to the German Tal, the word behind Neanderthal. It has always meant a hollow in the ground, usually a small one and usually wooded.
How the name formed
- dell
- Dell
Pronouncing Dell
DEL
One syllable, rhyming with bell. There is nothing to explain and nothing to correct.
Nicknames for Dell
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 195677 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #465reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Dells among us
people named Dell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Dell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Dell
- #10695
- Dell on the 2025 chart
- #913
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Dell went to 6 boys in 2025, but Del 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 — 9,782 places above the chart.
- Del9
- Dell6
About 1 boy in 113,872 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 284,679 for Dell 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
Fashion outlook
Dell 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
Dell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters, with no possible mispronunciation.
- It works as a full name and as a short form of half a dozen others.
- The meaning is concrete and can be pointed at.
- A very large computer company carries the name and is the first association for many.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
- It reads as a short form, and formal settings may look for something longer.
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What they receive
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Dell
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Dell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Dell?
- Dell is one of 2 recorded spellings. Del is the more common one — 9 births in 2025 against 6 for Dell.
- How popular is the name Dell in 2025?
- Dell ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dell?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Dell — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dell with classmates?
- Dell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695 · Garnet#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dell and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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