Deanna
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "from Demeter", the goddess of agriculture.
Name Census estimates that about 109,112 living Americans carry the first name Deanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Deanna today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deanna births was 1970 (4,344 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deanna. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Deanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Deanna is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 266 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Deanna have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
109K
~ 1 in 3,141 Americans
Peak year
1970
4,344 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2004 SSA rank
#2,323
Tracked since 1899
Census
Deanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 112,507 people with the first name Deanna, which placed it at #502 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
#502
National first-name rank
People counted
113K
112,507 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
37.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deanna is White at 77.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.7%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Deanna 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 Deanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.1% · 86,787
- Black or African American8.7% · 9,821
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 9,031
- Two or more races3.5% · 3,975
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 1,642
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 1,251
Gender
Gender distribution for Deanna
Out of the 134,657 babies given the name Deanna since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Deanna as a male name
- Ranked #11,761 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1971 (19 births)
Deanna as a female name
- Ranked #2,323 in 2024
- 79 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (4,331 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 112,509 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Deanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deanna from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 32,337 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deanna 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 Deanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Deannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Deanna, while Vermont, Wyoming, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,588 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Deanna
The name Deanna is a feminine given name of Greek origin. It is derived from the Greek name Dianna, which is a combination of the words "dios" meaning "divine" and "anassa" meaning "lady" or "princess." The name was originally a title for the Greek goddess Artemis, who was the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and chastity.
In ancient Greek mythology, Artemis was one of the most widely venerated deities. She was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrow, accompanied by a deer or other animals. Her name was also associated with the moon, and she was sometimes called Phoebe, which means "bright" or "shining."
The earliest known use of the name Deanna as a given name dates back to the Renaissance period in Italy. It was likely influenced by the popularity of classical Greek and Roman culture during this time. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Deanna was Deanna Aragona, an Italian poet and noblewoman who lived in the 16th century.
In the 17th century, the name Deanna gained popularity in France and other parts of Europe. One notable figure was Deanna Duvivier, a French writer and philosopher who lived from 1637 to 1718. She was known for her works on ethics and morality.
In the 18th century, the name Deanna was used by several notable figures in the arts and literature. Deanna Banti was an Italian novelist and poet who lived from 1723 to 1806. She is best known for her poetic works that explored themes of love and nature.
During the 19th century, the name Deanna became more widely used in various parts of the world. Deanna Durbin was an Canadian actress and singer who was popular in the 1930s and 1940s. She starred in several successful musical films and was known for her soprano voice.
Another famous Deanna from the 20th century was Deanna Lund, an American actress and director who appeared in several popular television series, including Batman and Land of the Giants. She was born in 1937 and had a successful career in both film and television.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Deanna
People
Deanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deanna 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
Deanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109,112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deanna 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 3,141 US residents.
Is Deanna a common name?
We classify Deanna as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 134,657 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Deanna was 1970, when 4,344 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deanna is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 112,507 people with the name Deanna, or 37.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #502 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 Deanna 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 Deanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 112,509 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Deanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deanna is White at 77.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.7%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Deanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.1% (86,787 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 Deanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deanna a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Deanna 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 Deanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deanna 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 Deanna 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 Deanna as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Deanna, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.