Deliah
A feminine name of undetermined origin meaning "delight" or "delicate".
Name Census estimates that about 988 living Americans carry the first name Deliah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Deliah today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deliah births was 2011 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deliah. 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 Deliah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
988
~ 1 in 346,917 Americans
Peak year
2011
34 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,647
Tracked since 1883
Census
Deliah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,275 people with the first name Deliah, which placed it at #10,450 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
#10,450
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,275 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deliah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deliah is White at 37.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.8%) and Black (20.5%). 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 Deliah 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 Deliah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.6% · 480
- Hispanic or Latino31.8% · 405
- Black or African American20.5% · 261
- Two or more races4.2% · 54
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.7% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 28
Popularity
Deliah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deliah from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 246 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Deliah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deliah 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 Deliah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Deliahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Deliah
The name Deliah is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew word "delilah," meaning "delicate" or "languishing." It is believed to have originated during the biblical era and is mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Judges.
According to biblical accounts, Delilah was a Philistine woman who lived in the valley of Sorek and became the lover of Samson, the famous Israelite judge known for his immense strength. Delilah betrayed Samson by cutting his hair, which was the source of his power, leading to his capture by the Philistines.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Deliah dates back to the 13th century BCE, and it appears in various ancient texts and manuscripts from that era. While the spelling "Delilah" is more common, the variant "Deliah" has been used throughout history.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Deliah was Deliah of Samaria, a Jewish scholar and poet who lived in the 4th century CE. She is known for her contributions to the field of Hebrew literature and her works have been preserved in various manuscripts.
In the 12th century, there was a notable figure named Deliah of Worms, who was a Jewish mystic and scholar renowned for her expertise in Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. She is believed to have influenced the development of Kabbalistic thought during her time.
During the Renaissance period, Deliah de' Medici (1476-1522) was an Italian noblewoman and the wife of Piero de' Medici, a member of the influential Medici family of Florence. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of artists and scholars.
In the 19th century, Deliah Colton (1818-1891) was an American author and educator who wrote several books on moral education and published works on historical figures. She was also involved in the women's suffrage movement and advocated for women's rights.
Another notable figure was Deliah Parnell (1854-1923), an Irish activist and politician who played a significant role in the Irish Home Rule movement. She was a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party and worked alongside her brother, Charles Stewart Parnell, in the struggle for Irish independence.
People
Deliah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deliah 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
Deliah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deliah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 988 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deliah 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 346,917 US residents.
Is Deliah a common name?
We classify Deliah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,242 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deliah most popular?
The single biggest year for Deliah was 2011, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deliah is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deliah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,275 people with the name Deliah, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,450 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 Deliah 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 Deliah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deliah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,271 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Deliah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deliah is White at 37.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.8%) and Black (20.5%). 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 Deliah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deliah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.6% (480 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 Deliah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deliah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Deliah 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 Deliah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deliah 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 Deliah 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 Deliah?
See how many Americans are named Deliah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.