Daelan
A masculine name of Scottish and Irish origin meaning "bright challenge".
Name Census estimates that about 386 living Americans carry the first name Daelan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Daelan today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Daelan births was 2018 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Daelan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
386
~ 1 in 887,965 Americans
Peak year
2018
28 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,099
Tracked since 1996
Census
Daelan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 307 people with the first name Daelan, which placed it at #29,019 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#29,019
National first-name rank
People counted
307
307 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Daelan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daelan is White at 40.7%. The next largest groups are Black (29.6%) and Two or More Races (13.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Daelan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Daelan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.7% · 125
- Black or African American29.6% · 91
- Two or more races13.4% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 9
Popularity
Daelan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Daelan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 191 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Daelan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Daelan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Daelan
The name Daelan has its origins in the Gaelic language, which is spoken in parts of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. The name can be traced back to the medieval period, specifically the 10th to 12th centuries.
One of the earliest known uses of the name Daelan can be found in the Annals of Inisfallen, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The name is believed to be derived from the Old Irish word "daol," meaning "disciple" or "student."
In the 11th century, there was a notable figure named Daelan mac Muiredhaigh, who was an Irish poet and scholar. He was renowned for his contributions to the preservation of Irish literature and language during a time of political turmoil.
Another historical figure with the name Daelan was Daelan mac Cormaic, an Irish abbot who lived in the 12th century. He was the abbot of the monastery of Iona, a significant religious center in Scotland during the Middle Ages.
In the 13th century, there was a Scottish nobleman named Daelan of Argyll, who played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence against England. He was a supporter of Robert the Bruce and fought alongside him in several battles.
During the 16th century, a Welsh poet and translator named Daelan ap Rhys gained recognition for his work in preserving and translating Welsh literature. His translations of ancient Welsh texts helped to preserve the language and culture during a time of English dominance.
In more recent history, there was a Scottish artist named Daelan MacLennan, who lived from 1867 to 1938. He was known for his landscape paintings, which captured the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands.
While the name Daelan has its roots in the Gaelic language and culture, it has been adopted and used in various parts of the world over the centuries, albeit with different spellings and variations.
People
Daelan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Daelan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Daelan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Daelan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 386 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Daelan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 887,965 US residents.
Is Daelan a common name?
We classify Daelan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Daelan most popular?
The single biggest year for Daelan was 2018, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Daelan is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Daelan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 307 people with the name Daelan, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,019 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Daelan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Daelan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Daelan leans strongly male. 296 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 12 female bearers (3.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Daelan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daelan is White at 40.7%. The next largest groups are Black (29.6%) and Two or More Races (13.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Daelan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Daelan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.7% (125 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Daelan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Daelan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Daelan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Daelan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Daelan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Daelan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Daelan?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Daelan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.