Delan
Of Welsh origin, meaning "descendant of the elm tree".
Name Census estimates that about 178 living Americans carry the first name Delan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Delan today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delan births was 2000 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delan. 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 Delan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
178
~ 1 in 1,925,586 Americans
Peak year
2000
13 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,109
Tracked since 1989
Census
Delan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 466 people with the first name Delan, which placed it at #21,679 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
#21,679
National first-name rank
People counted
466
466 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
33.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delan is Hispanic at 33.7%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Black (19.1%). 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 Delan 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 Delan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino33.7% · 157
- White29.2% · 136
- Black or African American19.1% · 89
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.9% · 60
- Two or more races3.0% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 10
Popularity
Delan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 75 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
Delan 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 Delan 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 Delan
The name Delan originated from the ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Europe during the Iron Age, around 800 BC to 1 BC. It is derived from the Proto-Celtic root word "del," meaning "to strike" or "to wound," suggesting a warrior-like connotation.
Delan was a relatively common name among the Celtic tribes that inhabited the regions now known as Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England. It was often given to male children born during times of conflict or to those destined for a life of combat or hunting.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Delan can be found in the ancient Celtic epic poem, "The Cattle Raid of Cooley," which dates back to the 8th century AD. In this epic, Delan is mentioned as a brave warrior who fought alongside the legendary Irish hero, Cú Chulainn.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Delan. One of the most famous was Delan of Leighlin (550-639 AD), an Irish abbot and saint who founded the monastery of Leighlin in County Carlow, Ireland. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, and his feast day is celebrated on January 18th.
Another prominent figure was Delan the Scribe (c. 1100-1180), a medieval Irish monk and chronicler who authored several important manuscripts, including the "Book of Leinster," a collection of ancient Irish tales and genealogies.
In the 14th century, Delan ap Rhys (c. 1310-1378) was a Welsh nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the Wars of Welsh Independence against the English crown.
During the Renaissance period, Delan Fiammingo (c. 1480-1545) was a renowned Italian painter and sculptor from the city of Florence, known for his intricate terracotta works and frescoes adorning several churches in Italy.
In more recent times, Delan Redjep (1939-2017) was an Albanian writer and poet whose works explored themes of national identity, freedom, and the human condition. He was widely regarded as one of the most influential literary figures in modern Albanian literature.
People
Delan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delan 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
Delan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delan 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 1,925,586 US residents.
Is Delan a common name?
We classify Delan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 180 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delan most popular?
The single biggest year for Delan was 2000, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delan is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 466 people with the name Delan, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,679 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 Delan 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 Delan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delan leans strongly male. 380 people counted with this name were male (81.0%), compared with 89 female bearers (19.0%). 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 Delan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delan is Hispanic at 33.7%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Black (19.1%). 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 Delan most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Delan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.7% (157 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 Delan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Delan 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 Delan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delan 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 Delan 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 the name Delan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.