Delight
A feminine name of English origin meaning great joy or pleasure.
Name Census estimates that about 441 living Americans carry the first name Delight. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Delight today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delight births was 1946 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delight. 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.
People living today
441
~ 1 in 777,221 Americans
Peak year
1946
32 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,453
Tracked since 1897
Popularity
Delight: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delight from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 177 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Delight 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 Delight 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 Delight
The name Delight is an English word name that originated as a virtue name. It comes from the Middle English word "delit", which was derived from the Old French "delit" meaning "pleasure, delight". The Old French word can be traced back to the Latin "delectare", meaning "to allure or delight".
Delight was first used as a given name in the 17th century, during the Puritan era in England and the American colonies. Puritan parents often chose virtue names for their children, reflecting positive qualities they hoped their child would embody. The name Delight symbolized the joy and happiness a child brought to their parents.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Delight as a first name was Delight Lamberton, born in 1634 in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Another early bearer was Delight Southworth, born in 1670 in Plymouth Colony. These examples demonstrate the popularity of the name among Puritan families in the early American colonies.
In literature, the name Delight appears in John Bunyan's allegorical work "The Pilgrim's Progress", published in 1678. One of the characters is named Delight, representing the joy and pleasure that comes from living a virtuous life.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Delight. Delight Hunter, an American author and activist born in 1926, wrote extensively on issues of race and gender. Delight Hutt, born in 1934, was a British actress and singer known for her roles in films and television shows.
Another notable bearer was Delight Rice, an American pioneer and settler born in 1824. She was one of the first women to travel the Oregon Trail and helped establish settlements in the Pacific Northwest.
In the 19th century, Delight Sweetser, born in 1808, was a prominent American educator and advocate for women's education. She founded several schools and worked to improve educational opportunities for women.
Delight Willcox, born in 1875, was an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She made significant contributions to various charitable organizations and worked to improve the lives of underprivileged children.
While not as common today, the name Delight continues to be used, carrying on the tradition of virtue names and celebrating the joy and happiness a child brings to their family.
People
Delight + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delight 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
Delight: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delight?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 441 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delight 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 777,221 US residents.
Is Delight a common name?
We classify Delight as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,051 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delight most popular?
The single biggest year for Delight was 1946, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delight is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Delight a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Delight 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.