Della
English feminine diminutive form of Adelaide or similar names meaning "noble kind".
Name Census estimates that about 20,333 living Americans carry the first name Della. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Della today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Della births was 1917 (1,198 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Della. 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 Della with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Della is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 139 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 16,857 Americans
Peak year
1917
1,198 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1941 SSA rank
#580
Tracked since 1880
Census
Della in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,489 people with the first name Della, which placed it at #1,576 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
#1,576
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
20,489 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Della
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Della is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Della 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 Della at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.3% · 14,198
- Black or African American17.7% · 3,619
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 1,332
- Two or more races3.5% · 708
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 335
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 297
Gender
Gender distribution for Della
Out of the 70,413 babies given the name Della since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Della as a male name
- Ranked #2,933 in 1941
- 7 male births in 1941
- Peak: 1924 (12 births)
Della as a female name
- Ranked #580 in 2024
- 518 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1917 (1,192 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Della appears almost entirely female. Of the 20,486 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Della: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Della from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 10,423 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Della 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 Della during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Della, while Vermont, Rhode Island, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 969 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Della
The name Della originated from the Italian language and culture. It is a feminine form of the name Dell, which is a shortened version of the Italian name Adele or Adela. The name Adele is derived from the Germanic root "adal," meaning "noble."
In its earliest days, the name Della was most commonly used in Italy, particularly in regions like Tuscany and Lombardy. It was a popular name among Italian nobility during the Renaissance period, as it carried connotations of nobility and refinement.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Della can be found in the works of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who lived from 1265 to 1321. In his famous work "The Divine Comedy," Dante references a character named Della Scala, who was a member of the ruling family of Verona.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Della. One of the earliest was Della Robbia (1399-1482), an Italian sculptor known for her pioneering work with glazed terracotta. Another was Della Crusca (1619-1691), an Italian linguist and member of the prestigious Accademia della Crusca, which was dedicated to preserving the purity of the Italian language.
In the realm of literature, Della Lute (1867-1950) was an American writer and editor who was instrumental in promoting the works of African American authors. Della Reese (1931-2017) was an American singer, actress, and activist who rose to fame in the 1950s and starred in the popular television series "Touched by an Angel."
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Della was Della Rovere (1442-1501), an Italian noblewoman who became the mistress of Pope Alexander VI and played a significant role in the politics of Renaissance Italy.
People
Della + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Della 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
Della: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Della?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,333 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Della 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 16,857 US residents.
Is Della a common name?
We classify Della as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 70,413 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Della most popular?
The single biggest year for Della was 1917, when 1,198 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Della is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Della in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,489 people with the name Della, or 6.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,576 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 Della 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 Della?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Della appears almost entirely female. Of the 20,486 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 Della?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Della is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Della most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Della in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (14,198 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 Della in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Della a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Della 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 Della still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Della 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 Della 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 have the name Della?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.