Detra
Feminine
In most names built with this prefix the opening syllable is unstressed and reduces to almost nothing — duh-SHAWN, luh-KEN-druh. Detra is short enough that the prefix takes the stress instead, and once it is stressed it stops being a mumble and becomes a full clear vowel: DEE rather than duh.
How old is the name Detra?
Detra first appears in US birth records in 1944 — 81 years ago. The typical Detra alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 1,900 people named Detra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Detra most popular?
Detra peaked in 1966, reaching #1057 nationally. See the whole 1966 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Detra
That is a real effect and not a quirk of one name. English gives the strongest syllable of a word its full vowel and reduces everything else toward a neutral mumble, so where the stress lands determines how much of a word you can actually hear. In a four-syllable name of this family the prefix is two beats away from the stress and disappears; in a two-syllable one it is the stress and survives intact. The same prefix therefore sounds like two different things depending only on how long the rest of the name is, which is why these names are much less uniform in speech than they look on paper.
Meaningnot established
Not established
A prefix carrying no sense followed by a syllable that is not a word in any language the name could have come from. Nothing translatable is present and no page can honestly supply a reading.
Pronouncing Detra
DEE-truh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Some families put it on the second instead, saying duh-TRAH, and the spelling does not settle it.
Nicknames for Detra
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
- 1944
- Most girls named
- 1970107 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1057reached in 1966
- Change vs 1996
- +40.0%7 in 1998, from 5
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.
Detras among us
people named Detra 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
Detra 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
- It is short, brisk and easy to say once the stress is placed.
- The spelling follows the sound with nothing to explain.
- It is genuinely rare while sounding entirely familiar.
- The stress placement is unsettled and strangers will guess.
- There is no meaning to pass on, whatever other pages claim.
- It reads clearly as belonging to a particular American generation.
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Detra
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Detras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Detra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Detra in 2025?
- Detra is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Detra with classmates?
- Detra 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 Detra? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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