Delane
A gender-neutral French name meaning "from the valley".
Name Census estimates that about 1,296 living Americans carry the first name Delane. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Delane today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delane births was 1957 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delane. 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.
Key insights
- • Delane sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 264,471 Americans
Peak year
1957
49 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2010 SSA rank
#12,452
Tracked since 1917
Gender
Gender distribution for Delane
Delane is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,878 total registrations, 923 (49.1%) were male and 955 (50.9%) were female.
Delane as a male name
- Ranked #12,713 in 2010
- 5 male births in 2010
- Peak: 1949 (23 births)
Delane as a female name
- Ranked #12,452 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1954 (29 births)
Popularity
Delane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delane from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 407 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Delane 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 Delane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Delanes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Alabama, Nebraska, Texas recorded the most babies named Delane, while Washington, Texas, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Delane
The given name Delane is a variant spelling of the French name Delaine, which is derived from the Old French word "de l'aine" meaning "of the woolen cloth". This name likely originated in medieval France, where the textile industry was an important part of the economy and culture.
Delane may have initially referred to someone who worked with woolen cloth, such as a weaver or a merchant. The name could have been an occupational surname that later transitioned into a given name. The earliest recorded instances of the name Delane are found in French historical records from the 13th and 14th centuries.
One notable historical figure with the name Delane was John Thadeus Delane, an English journalist and editor who lived from 1817 to 1879. He was the editor of The Times newspaper in London for over three decades and played a significant role in shaping the newspaper's influential voice during the Victorian era.
Another individual with the name Delane was Sir Henry Delane, an American-born British military officer who lived from 1852 to 1915. He served in the British Army and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service during the Second Boer War in South Africa.
In the realm of literature, Delane was the first name of Delane Osborne, an American author and poet who lived from 1898 to 1971. She published several collections of poetry and was known for her works exploring themes of nature and spirituality.
Delane was also the first name of Delane Matthews, an American jazz musician who lived from 1928 to 1998. He was a saxophonist and played with various jazz ensembles throughout his career, contributing to the development of the West Coast jazz scene.
Another historical figure with the name Delane was Delane Fitzgerald, an American artist and sculptor who lived from 1913 to 2005. She was known for her abstract and modernist sculptures, many of which are on display in museums and public spaces across the United States.
People
Delane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delane 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
Delane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,296 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delane 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 264,471 US residents.
Is Delane a common name?
We classify Delane as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,878 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delane most popular?
The single biggest year for Delane was 1957, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delane is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Delane a female name?
Yes, 50.9% of people registered as Delane 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.
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.