Dalena
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "laurel branch".
Name Census estimates that about 1,033 living Americans carry the first name Dalena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dalena today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dalena births was 1993 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dalena. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 331,805 Americans
Peak year
1993
50 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,979
Tracked since 1946
Census
Dalena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,038 people with the first name Dalena, which placed it at #12,115 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
#12,115
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,038 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
38.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dalena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dalena is Asian/Pacific Islander at 38.2%. The next largest groups are White (34.6%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Dalena 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 Dalena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander38.2% · 397
- White34.6% · 359
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 118
- Black or African American10.0% · 104
- Two or more races4.4% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 14
Popularity
Dalena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dalena from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 310 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dalena 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 Dalena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dalenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Dalena, while Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dalena
The name Dalena finds its origins in the ancient Greek language, with roots dating back to the classical era of ancient Greece. The first part of the name, "Dal," is derived from the Greek word "dalis," meaning "branch" or "twig." The latter part, "ena," is believed to have been a common feminine suffix in Greek names during that time period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dalena can be found in a 5th century BC Greek tragedy by the playwright Aeschylus, where a minor character bears this name. However, it is unclear whether this was intended as a proper name or merely a descriptive term.
In the Byzantine era, spanning from the 4th to the 15th century AD, the name Dalena became more prevalent, particularly among Greek Orthodox Christian communities. It is thought to have been used as a symbol of strength and resilience, much like a sturdy branch withstanding the elements.
The first notable individual with the name Dalena was a 9th century Byzantine noblewoman and philanthropist, Dalena Doukas (825 - 901), renowned for her charitable works and patronage of the arts.
In the 12th century, Dalena Komnenos (1154 - 1208), a member of the illustrious Komnenos dynasty of Byzantine emperors, gained recognition for her role in political negotiations and diplomacy.
During the Renaissance period, the name Dalena resurfaced in Italy, where it was occasionally used among the artistic and intellectual circles of the time. One such individual was the Italian painter Dalena Veronese (1528 - 1588), whose works adorned the walls of several churches in Venice.
In the 19th century, the name experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. Dalena Karaiskakis (1815 - 1890), a Greek writer and educator, was a notable figure who contributed to the preservation of Greek culture and language during the turbulent years following the Greek War of Independence.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Dalena Mavrogordatos (1876 - 1958), a Greek philanthropist and pioneering advocate for women's rights, who played a crucial role in establishing educational opportunities for girls in Greece.
Throughout its long history, the name Dalena has been associated with strength, resilience, and a deep-rooted connection to the rich cultural heritage of the ancient Greek world and the Byzantine Empire.
People
Dalena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dalena 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
Dalena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dalena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,033 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dalena 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 331,805 US residents.
Is Dalena a common name?
We classify Dalena as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,100 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dalena most popular?
The single biggest year for Dalena was 1993, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dalena is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dalena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,038 people with the name Dalena, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,115 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 Dalena 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 Dalena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dalena appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,044 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Dalena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dalena is Asian/Pacific Islander at 38.2%. The next largest groups are White (34.6%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Dalena most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Dalena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.2% (397 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 Dalena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dalena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dalena in the SSA data are female. 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 Dalena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dalena 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 Dalena 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 share the name Dalena?
Find out how many people have the name Dalena on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.