Delian
A name derived from the Greek island of Delos.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Delian. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Delian today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delian births was 2019 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delian. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Delian. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2019
5 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2019 SSA rank
#12,608
Tracked since 2019
Census
Delian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 123 people with the first name Delian, which placed it at #49,809 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
#49,809
National first-name rank
People counted
123
123 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
34.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delian is Hispanic at 34.1%. The next largest groups are White (25.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (24.4%). 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 Delian 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 Delian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino34.1% · 42
- White25.2% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander24.4% · 30
- Black or African American13.0% · 16
- Two or more races3.3% · 4
Popularity
Delian: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Delian 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 Delian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Delian
The name Delian has its origins in Ancient Greek culture, deriving from the Greek word "Delios" which means "of Delos". Delos was a small island in the Aegean Sea that held significant importance in Greek mythology as the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Delian can be found in Homer's Iliad, an epic poem from the 8th century BC. In the text, Homer mentions a character named Delian who was a priest of Apollo on the island of Delos.
Throughout ancient Greek history, the name Delian was often given to individuals born on the sacred island of Delos or those who held positions as priests or servants in the temples dedicated to Apollo and Artemis.
The first notable historical figure with the name Delian was Delian of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century BC. He was a follower of the Eleatic school of philosophy and is known for his work on the nature of reality and the concept of being.
Another prominent individual named Delian was a Greek historian from the 3rd century BC. Delian of Byzantium wrote a historical account of the city-state of Byzantium, which later became the city of Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 2nd century AD, there was a Roman senator named Delian who was mentioned in the writings of the historian Cassius Dio. Delian was known for his involvement in the political affairs of the Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Commodus.
During the Byzantine era, a notable figure named Delian was a high-ranking military officer who served under the emperor Basil II in the 10th century AD. Delian played a significant role in the wars against the Bulgarian Empire and was instrumental in several military victories.
Another individual with the name Delian was a Renaissance scholar and humanist who lived in the 15th century. Delian of Venice was a renowned scholar of Greek literature and was influential in the revival of classical learning during the Renaissance period.
People
Delian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delian 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
Delian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delian 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Delian a common name?
We classify Delian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delian most popular?
The single biggest year for Delian was 2019, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delian is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 123 people with the name Delian, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,809 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 Delian 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 Delian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Delian on both sides of the split. Of the 129 people counted with this name, 72 were male (55.8%) and 57 were female (44.2%). 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 Delian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delian is Hispanic at 34.1%. The next largest groups are White (25.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (24.4%). 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 Delian most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Delian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.1% (42 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 Delian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delian a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Delian 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 Delian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delian 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 Delian 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 share the name Delian?
Find out how many Americans are named Delian on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.