Desire
Feminine · “longing”
Desire is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 5,336 girls against 132 boys since 1880.
Desire descends from the Latin desiderare — literally to await what the stars bring — since sidus is a star.
How old is the name Desire?
Desire first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Desire alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 5,200 people named Desire are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Desire most popular?
Desire peaked in 1992, reaching #1174 nationally. Today it ranks #2239, 1,065 places below that high. See the whole 1992 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sidus to Desire
The story of Desire
Desiderare and considerare both contain the word for a star and both began in augury — one awaiting what the stars showed, the other examining them. Puritan and later French naming used Désiré and Desire as given names. It appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
longing, wish
From the Latin desiderare, generally analyzed as de- plus sidus, sideris, 'star' — an augury term for awaiting what the heavens indicate. The related considerare, 'to examine the stars', shares the element. The etymology is standard though the semantic path is debated.
How the name formed
- sidus
- desiderare
- desire
- Desire
Related forms: Désirée · Desiree
Pronouncing Desire
dih-ZY-ur
Two syllables, stress on the second. Some bearers say deh-zee-RAY following the French.
Nicknames for Desire
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
- 1955
- Most girls named
- 2008164 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1174reached in 1992
- Change vs 2024
- −5.7%82 in 2025, from 87
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.
Desire in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Désirée in French — related form
- Desiree in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois, Florida, New York.
Desires among us
people named Desire are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 19,601 born in 2025 was named Desire
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Desire
- #2239
- Desire on the 2025 chart
- #681
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Desire went to 82 girls in 2025, but Desiree, Dezire and Deziree and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 286, which makes it the 681st most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,558 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 5,620 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 19,601 for Desire 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
The Ricky test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Desire's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ricky climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ricky's path sketches the road Desire is walking now.
Desire 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
Where Desire is headed
Desire should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Desire beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Desire in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That desire and consider both come from star-watching is a first-rate etymology.
- Desi is available as a short form with a real record.
- The Puritan naming tradition behind it is genuine.
- It is an ordinary English noun with a strong sense.
- The pronunciation splits between English and French readings.
- Desiree is the commoner form in America.
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What they receive
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Desire
Feminine · #2239 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Desires 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 Desire are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Desire?
- Desire is one of 6 recorded spellings. Desiree is the more common one — 151 births in 2025 against 82 for Desire.
- How popular is the name Desire in 2025?
- Desire ranks #2239 among US girl names in 2025, with 82 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Desire?
- About 1 in every 19,601 US girls born in 2025 was named Desire — 82 in all.
- Will my child share the name Desire with classmates?
- Desire will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Desire
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jaelani#2239 · Mirabelle#2239 · Kelsie#2239 · Jazmyn#2239 · Naiomi#2239 · Bracha#2239 · Collette#2239 · Effie#2239
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Desire? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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