Delois
Feminine
Delois is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 8,500 girls against 122 boys since 1880.
Delois joins the quietest American prefix to a name that appears once in the whole Bible. De- never became as productive as La- or Sha-, which makes the names built on it less immediately placeable. Lois turns up in a single verse of the New Testament, as somebody's grandmother, and is never mentioned again.
How old is the name Delois?
Delois first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Delois alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 5,200 people named Delois are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Delois most popular?
Delois peaked in 1948, reaching #445 nationally. See the whole 1948 chart.
Where it comes from
From Lois to Delois
The story of Delois
The Puritans took names from every corner of scripture, including the ones mentioned once, and Lois came to America that way and stayed. It became very widely used in the early twentieth century and then stopped, as such names do. The De- prefix belongs to a later and different tradition, and Delois, Delores, Delisa and Denita all show it at work — attaching to existing names rather than to invented syllables, which is how the prefix system generally starts before it becomes fully productive.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Lois appears in the second letter to Timothy, where Paul commends the faith of Timothy's grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, and that is the only occurrence anywhere. Its meaning has never been established — Greek proposals about being more desirable or better are guesses built on a resemblance rather than a derivation. The De- prefix contributes nothing. So the name is an unexplained prefix on an unexplained name, and the honest answer is that no meaning can be given.
How the name formed
- Lois
- Delois
Related forms: Λωΐς
Pronouncing Delois
duh-LOYS
duh-LOYS, two syllables, stress at the back, the oi said as in boy. Some give it three, duh-LOH-iss, sounding the two vowels separately, which is how Lois itself is often said. Both are heard and the spelling settles neither.
Nicknames for Delois
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 1947290 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #445reached in 1948
- Change vs 1994
- +16.7%7 in 1999, 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.
Delois in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Λωΐς in Greek — transliteration
Deloiss among us
people named Delois 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
Delois 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
- Lois is waiting inside it as a complete name with a documented, if brief, scriptural appearance.
- Dee works as a short form and is a standing name of its own.
- The stress at the end balances well against a front-stressed surname.
- The syllable count is not settled by the spelling, so the name is said two ways.
- Delores and Delois are close enough in sound and spelling to be confused constantly.
- There is no documented meaning for either half, which is worth deciding how to explain.
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Delois
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Deloiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,200 people named Delois are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Delois in 2025?
- Delois is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Delois with classmates?
- Delois 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 Delois? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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