Diedre
Feminine
Of the common respellings of this name, only this one keeps both r sounds. Deedra and Diedra each drop the second; Diedre keeps it and moves it, which makes it the closest of the three to what the Irish original actually asks for and the hardest of the three for an English reader to place.
How old is the name Diedre?
Diedre first appears in US birth records in 1944 — 81 years ago. The typical Diedre alive today was born around 1968, making them about 57 years old. About 1,600 people named Diedre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Diedre most popular?
Diedre peaked in 1964, reaching #1172 nationally. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Deirdre to Diedre
The story of Diedre
Nobody was called this in medieval Ireland. The story is genuinely ancient — it appears in manuscripts from the early medieval period and is clearly older than the manuscripts — and yet the name does not turn up in the annals, the genealogies or the church records as anybody's actual name. That is unusual: Irish parents used names from the sagas constantly. The likeliest explanation is that a name attached to a story that ends that badly was not one anybody wanted to hand to a daughter, and it took the literary revival of the twentieth century, with its taste for tragic material, to make it usable.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Irish name has no secure meaning. Sorrowful is offered constantly and is a reading back from the story rather than a derivation from the language.
How the name formed
- Deirdre
- Diedre
Related forms: Deirdre
Pronouncing Diedre
DEER-druh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. This spelling keeps the r that the phonetic respellings drop, which brings it closer to the Irish.
Nicknames for Diedre
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
- 196488 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1172reached in 1964
- Change vs 1998
- 0.0%5 in 1999, 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.
Diedre in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Deirdre in Irish — same name
Diedres among us
people named Diedre 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
Diedre 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 preserves more of the original than the other respellings do.
- Dee sits inside it as a completely familiar short form.
- It is rarer than either the Irish spelling or the phonetic one.
- Deirdre and Deidra are both in use and this gets corrected to both.
- The two r sounds in three syllables are awkward for some speakers.
- No meaning can be given, whatever other pages assert.
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Diedre
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Diedres are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Diedre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Diedre in 2025?
- Diedre is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Diedre with classmates?
- Diedre 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 Diedre? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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