Delberta
Of English origin, a feminine name of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Delberta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Delberta today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delberta births was 1936 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delberta. 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
- • The typical person named Delberta is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Delbertas were born before 1961.
People living today
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
1936
15 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1976 SSA rank
#9,639
Tracked since 1914
Census
Delberta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 245 people with the first name Delberta, which placed it at #33,672 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
#33,672
National first-name rank
People counted
245
245 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delberta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delberta is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (11.8%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Delberta 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 Delberta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.7% · 183
- American Indian and Alaska Native11.8% · 29
- Black or African American5.3% · 13
- Two or more races4.9% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 4
Popularity
Delberta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delberta from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 103 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Delberta 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 Delberta 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 Delberta
Delberta is a given name with origins tracing back to the Old German language. It is a compound name, derived from the words "delb" meaning "to dig" and "berta" meaning "bright" or "famous." The name was prevalent in medieval Germany, particularly during the 9th to 11th centuries.
The earliest known recorded instance of the name Delberta dates back to a monastic chronicle from the Benedictine abbey in Fulda, Germany, circa 840 AD. The chronicle mentions a nun named Delberta who was renowned for her piety and devotion to religious studies.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Delberta was a noblewoman from the House of Ascania, a medieval German dynasty. Delberta of Anhalt, born in 1187, was the daughter of Count Bernhard III of Anhalt. She married Duke Henry I of Saxony and played a significant role in the political affairs of the region during the 13th century.
In the 14th century, a Benedictine abbess named Delberta von Rottenburg (1312-1384) gained prominence for her leadership and reforms within the monastic community in southern Germany. Her efforts to uphold strict religious observances and promote education within the abbey were widely acclaimed.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure bearing the name Delberta was an Italian humanist scholar and poet. Delberta Tornabuoni (1472-1537), born in Florence, was part of the influential Tornabuoni family and was known for her patronage of the arts and her poetic works.
Another historical figure of note was Delberta von Bützow (1523-1591), a German noblewoman and landowner from Mecklenburg. She played a pivotal role in the Reformation movement in northern Germany and was a staunch supporter of Martin Luther's teachings.
While the name Delberta has its roots in medieval German culture, it has been adopted and used across various regions and time periods, albeit with varying degrees of popularity. The name's meaning, derived from its Old German origins, reflects the virtues of diligence and brilliance, which may have contributed to its enduring appeal throughout history.
People
Delberta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delberta 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
Delberta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delberta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delberta 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Delberta a common name?
We classify Delberta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 369 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delberta most popular?
The single biggest year for Delberta was 1936, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delberta is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delberta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 245 people with the name Delberta, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,672 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 Delberta 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 Delberta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delberta appears almost entirely female. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Delberta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delberta is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (11.8%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Delberta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Delberta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.7% (183 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 Delberta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delberta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Delberta 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 Delberta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delberta 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 Delberta 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 common is the name Delberta?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Delberta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.