Delmer
Masculine · “of the sea”
Delmer is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 7,654 boys against 16 girls since 1880.
Del Mar is Spanish for of the sea. It is on the map of California twice over and it became an American surname and then a first name, which is a short journey for a preposition and a noun to make.
How old is the name Delmer?
Delmer first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Delmer alive today was born around 1935, making them about 90 years old. About 2,300 people named Delmer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Delmer most popular?
Delmer peaked in 1935, reaching #404 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,604 places below that high. See the whole 1935 chart.
Where it comes from
From del mar to Delmer
The story of Delmer
American place naming produced a small class of blended names that exist nowhere else, made by welding two state names together at a border. Delmarva is Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, and it names the peninsula they share. Texarkana sits on the Texas and Arkansas line. Calexico and Mexicali face each other across the border and are each other's names reversed. Michiana, Kentuckiana and Illiana all work the same way. Delmar, the town on the Maryland and Delaware line, is sometimes explained as one of them and is more likely the Spanish phrase, which had already become a surname. The given name came from there.
Meaningscholars disagree
of the sea
Usually taken from Spanish del mar, of the sea, through the place and surname Delmar. An alternative derivation from an English surname has been proposed. Neither has been established, and the -er ending is an American variation on -ar.
How the name formed
- del mar
- Delmar
- Delmer
Related forms: Delmar
Pronouncing Delmer
DEL-mur
Two syllables, stress on the first. Delmar, with an a, has a secondary beat on the second syllable and is closer to the Spanish; Delmer reduces it entirely.
Nicknames for Delmer
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 1924205 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #404reached in 1935
- Change vs 2020
- −28.6%5 in 2025, 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.
Delmer in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Delmar in Spanish — related form
Delmers among us
people named Delmer are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Delmer
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jewel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Delmer's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jewel climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jewel's path sketches the road Delmer is walking now.
Delmer 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
Delmer beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Delmer in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Spanish phrase behind it that anyone can check.
- Del works as a short form and serves either child.
- Two syllables that everyone reads correctly on sight.
- It is strongly represented among the oldest generations and reads clearly as of that time.
- Delmar is the commoner spelling and closer to the Spanish it comes from.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
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What they receive
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Delmer
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Delmers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Delmer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Delmer in 2025?
- Delmer ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Delmer?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Delmer — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Delmer with classmates?
- Delmer will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Delmer
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Delmer? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Delmer and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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