Daelen
Masculine name of unknown etymology and origin, possibly of Dutch/Frisian roots.
Name Census estimates that about 325 living Americans carry the first name Daelen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Daelen today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Daelen births was 2010 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Daelen. 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
325
~ 1 in 1,054,629 Americans
Peak year
2010
28 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,672
Tracked since 1997
Census
Daelen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 272 people with the first name Daelen, which placed it at #31,478 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
#31,478
National first-name rank
People counted
272
272 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
35.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Daelen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daelen is White at 35.3%. The next largest groups are Black (34.6%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Daelen 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 Daelen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White35.3% · 96
- Black or African American34.6% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 38
- Two or more races12.1% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 4
Popularity
Daelen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Daelen from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 148 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Daelen 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 Daelen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Daelens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Daelen
The name Daelen is believed to have its origins in the Germanic languages, tracing back to the early medieval period. It is thought to be derived from the Old Germanic root "dal," which means "valley" or "dale." The name likely emerged as a topographic surname, referring to someone who lived in or near a valley.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Daelen can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval Saxon documents from the 9th century. This suggests that the name was in use among Germanic peoples during the Early Middle Ages.
In the 12th century, a nobleman named Daelen von Westphalen is mentioned in the chronicles of the Bishopric of Paderborn, located in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. This indicates that the name had gained some prominence among the nobility of the region at that time.
During the Renaissance period, a prominent Dutch painter named Daelen Cornelisz (c. 1535-1575) rose to fame for his portraits and genre scenes. His works can be found in various museums across Europe, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
In the 17th century, a German theologian and philosopher named Daelen Petersen (1628-1688) gained recognition for his work on natural theology and his contributions to the development of Protestant thought.
The name Daelen also appears in the historical records of the Scandinavian countries. In the 19th century, a Norwegian painter named Daelen Gude (1825-1903) gained acclaim for his landscapes and seascapes, which captured the rugged beauty of the Norwegian fjords.
While the name Daelen has been more commonly found in Germanic and Scandinavian regions throughout history, it has also been recorded in other parts of Europe, although with less frequency. The name's longevity and continued use across multiple cultures and centuries attest to its enduring appeal and significance in various European traditions.
People
Daelen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Daelen 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
Daelen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Daelen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 325 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Daelen 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 1,054,629 US residents.
Is Daelen a common name?
We classify Daelen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 328 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Daelen most popular?
The single biggest year for Daelen was 2010, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Daelen is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Daelen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 272 people with the name Daelen, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,478 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 Daelen 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 Daelen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Daelen leans strongly male. 245 people counted with this name were male (88.4%), compared with 32 female bearers (11.6%). 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 Daelen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daelen is White at 35.3%. The next largest groups are Black (34.6%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Daelen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Daelen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.3% (96 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 Daelen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Daelen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Daelen 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 Daelen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Daelen 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 Daelen 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 are named Daelen?
Want to know how many Americans are named Daelen? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.