Deitrich
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "ruler of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 114 living Americans carry the first name Deitrich. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Deitrich today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deitrich births was 1993 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deitrich. 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
114
~ 1 in 3,006,617 Americans
Peak year
1993
13 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2008 SSA rank
#11,389
Tracked since 1970
Census
Deitrich in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 221 people with the first name Deitrich, which placed it at #36,071 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
#36,071
National first-name rank
People counted
221
221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deitrich
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deitrich is Black at 61.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.1%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Deitrich 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 Deitrich at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.5% · 136
- White28.1% · 62
- Two or more races5.9% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Popularity
Deitrich: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deitrich from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 40 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deitrich 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 Deitrich 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 Deitrich
The name Deitrich is a Germanic name with origins dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Old German words "diet" meaning "people" and "rihhi" meaning "ruler" or "powerful". The name essentially translates to "ruler of the people" or "powerful leader".
In its earliest recorded use, Deitrich was a name given to Germanic nobles and warriors during the time of the Frankish Empire in the 5th to 9th centuries. It was a popular name among the ruling classes and those of high social status.
One of the earliest known references to the name Deitrich can be found in the ancient Germanic epic poem "The Nibelungenlied" from around the 13th century. In this legendary work, Deitrich von Bern (Dietrich of Bern) is a prominent character, depicted as a noble and heroic figure.
Over the centuries, several notable historical figures bore the name Deitrich. Deitrich of Bern (976-1030) was a Duke of Bavaria and a powerful medieval ruler. Deitrich of Trier (1242-1307) was a renowned German bishop and statesman. Deitrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Protestant theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, executed for his role in the resistance against the Third Reich.
Other famous individuals named Deitrich include Deitrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, and Deitrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012), a celebrated German lyric baritone and conductor.
While the name Deitrich has its roots in medieval Germanic culture, it has maintained a presence throughout various regions of Europe over time, particularly in Germany, Austria, and parts of Scandinavia.
People
Deitrich + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deitrich 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
Deitrich: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deitrich?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 114 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deitrich 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 3,006,617 US residents.
Is Deitrich a common name?
We classify Deitrich as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deitrich most popular?
The single biggest year for Deitrich was 1993, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deitrich is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deitrich in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 221 people with the name Deitrich, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,071 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 Deitrich 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 Deitrich?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Deitrich on both sides of the split. Of the 220 people counted with this name, 171 were male (77.7%) and 49 were female (22.3%). 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 Deitrich?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deitrich is Black at 61.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.1%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Deitrich most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Deitrich in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.5% (136 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 Deitrich in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deitrich a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Deitrich 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 Deitrich still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deitrich 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 Deitrich 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 Deitrich?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.