Dela
A feminine Spanish name derived from the contraction "de la".
Name Census estimates that about 335 living Americans carry the first name Dela. It is a predominantly female name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Dela today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dela births was 2023 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dela. 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 Dela with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
335
~ 1 in 1,023,147 Americans
Peak year
2023
16 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1989 SSA rank
#8,177
Tracked since 1888
Census
Dela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 615 people with the first name Dela, which placed it at #17,751 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
#17,751
National first-name rank
People counted
615
615 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dela is White at 37.6%. The next largest groups are Black (32.8%) and Hispanic (21.5%). 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 Dela 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 Dela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.6% · 231
- Black or African American32.8% · 202
- Hispanic or Latino21.5% · 132
- Two or more races4.1% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Dela
Out of the 546 babies given the name Dela since 1880, 99.1% 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.
Dela as a male name
- Ranked #8,177 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (5 births)
Dela as a female name
- Ranked #9,688 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dela leans strongly female. 534 people counted with this name were female (86.3%), compared with 85 male bearers (13.7%).
Popularity
Dela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dela from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 70 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
Dela 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 Dela 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 Dela
The name Dela has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest Indo-European languages spoken on the Indian subcontinent. Dela is derived from the Sanskrit word "deva," which means "divine" or "god." The name is believed to have been in use as early as the 3rd century BCE.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, the word "deva" is often used to refer to deities or celestial beings. The name Dela was likely given to children with the intention of bestowing divine qualities or blessings upon them. It was a popular name among the Brahmin caste in ancient India.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dela can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem dating back to the 8th century BCE. The Mahabharata mentions a character named Dela, who was a prince and son of King Virata.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Dela. One of the most famous was Dela Goswami (1484-1568), a prominent Gaudiya Vaishnava saint and spiritual leader in 16th-century Bengal. He was a close associate of the renowned Hindu theologian and reformer, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Another historical figure named Dela was Dela Khan (1592-1659), a Mughal nobleman and military commander who served under the Mughal emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan. He played a crucial role in the Mughal campaigns against the Persians and the Marathas.
In the 18th century, Dela Ram (1718-1789) was a renowned Indian poet and writer from the state of Rajasthan. He is best known for his work "Dela Ram Kavya," which is a collection of poems and literary works.
Dela Upasika (1892-1982) was a Theravada Buddhist nun and scholar from Sri Lanka. She was instrumental in reviving the Bhikkhuni (female monastic) order in Sri Lanka and was also a prominent advocate for gender equality within Buddhist traditions.
Dela Sacheva (1919-2008) was a distinguished Indian scientist and engineer who made significant contributions to the field of aeronautics. He served as the Director of the Indian Institute of Science and played a pivotal role in the development of India's aerospace industry.
People
Dela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dela 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
Dela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 335 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dela 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 1,023,147 US residents.
Is Dela a common name?
We classify Dela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 546 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dela most popular?
The single biggest year for Dela was 2023, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dela is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 615 people with the name Dela, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,751 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 Dela 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 Dela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dela leans strongly female. 534 people counted with this name were female (86.3%), compared with 85 male bearers (13.7%). 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 Dela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dela is White at 37.6%. The next largest groups are Black (32.8%) and Hispanic (21.5%). 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 Dela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.6% (231 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 Dela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dela a female name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Dela 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 Dela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dela 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 Dela 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 Americans are named Dela?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.