Delma
Feminine · “of the sea”
Delma is given to both — 8,454 girls and 1,447 boys since 1880. See Delma as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Delma sits in a small family of names that rhyme and are otherwise unrelated: Thelma, Selma, Velma, Delma. Each arrived from a different direction and they have been mistaken for variants of one another ever since. This one most likely comes from Delmar — del mar, Spanish for of the sea.
How old is the name Delma?
Delma first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Delma alive today was born around 1935, making them about 90 years old. About 3,300 people named Delma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Delma most popular?
Delma peaked in 1907, reaching #448 nationally. See the whole 1907 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From del mar to Delma
The story of Delma
The -elma names came into American use together around the turn of the last century and are a good illustration of how a rhyme can look like a family. Thelma was coined by a novelist in the eighteen-eighties. Selma is a German place name and also an American one. Velma has no settled origin at all. Delma probably comes from Spanish through the American Southwest. Four different sources, one shared ending, and a century of people assuming they must all be versions of the same thing. They are not, and the ending is all they share.
Meaningscholars disagree
of the sea
Del mar is Spanish for of the sea and gives the surname and place name Delmar, which American naming took up and shortened. That is the strongest reading. Alternatives connect Delma to Adelma, a Germanic compound about nobility, or treat it as a member of the -elma group built purely on sound. None can be shown for a particular family. The sea reading is the one with an actual Spanish phrase behind it, which is why it leads.
How the name formed
- del mar
- Delmar
- Delma
Related forms: Delmar
Pronouncing Delma
DEL-muh
DEL-muh, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. There is no competing reading. Spanish would give both syllables full value, DEL-mah, which is how the name is said in Spanish-speaking households.
Nicknames for Delma
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
- 1884
- Most girls named
- 1926205 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #448reached in 1907
- Change vs 2015
- −28.6%5 in 2023, 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.
Delma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Delmar in Spanish — related form
Delmas among us
people named Delma 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
Delma 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
- Two syllables and five letters, said correctly by everyone on first sight.
- Del works as a short form and suits either child.
- The Spanish phrase behind it is concrete and easy to explain.
- Thelma, Selma and Velma are all close enough to be substituted, and all three are better known.
- The origin is not settled, so any meaning offered comes with a hedge.
- The name belongs firmly to an earlier American century and has not returned.
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What they receive
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Delma
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Delmas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,300 people named Delma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Delma in 2025?
- Delma is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Delma with classmates?
- Delma 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 Delma? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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