Delma
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a contracted form of Delia.
Name Census estimates that about 3,136 living Americans carry the first name Delma. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Delma today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delma births was 1926 (250 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delma. 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 Delma is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Delmas were born before 1968.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 109,297 Americans
Peak year
1926
250 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1982 SSA rank
#5,818
Tracked since 1884
Census
Delma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,149 people with the first name Delma, which placed it at #3,833 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
#3,833
National first-name rank
People counted
5.1K
5,149 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
45.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delma is Hispanic at 45.4%. The next largest groups are White (37.9%) and Black (11.2%). 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 Delma 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 Delma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino45.4% · 2,338
- White37.9% · 1,953
- Black or African American11.2% · 578
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 163
- Two or more races1.3% · 66
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 51
Gender
Gender distribution for Delma
Delma leans heavily female at 85.4% of total registrations, but 1,447 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Delma as a male name
- Ranked #5,818 in 1982
- 6 male births in 1982
- Peak: 1922 (45 births)
Delma as a female name
- Ranked #15,771 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1926 (205 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delma leans strongly female. 4,741 people counted with this name were female (92.0%), compared with 415 male bearers (8.0%).
Popularity
Delma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delma 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 2,123 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
Delma 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 Delma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Delmas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, West Virginia recorded the most babies named Delma, while Washington, South Dakota, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 140 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Delma
The name Delma is believed to have its origins in the Greek language, derived from the word "delma," which means "a bundle" or "a package." This name likely emerged during the ancient Greek period, possibly as early as the 5th century BC.
In ancient Greek texts, the name Delma was sometimes used to refer to a bundle of goods or a package of items. It is not clear whether the name was initially used as a personal name or simply as a descriptive term.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Delma being used as a personal name dates back to the 2nd century AD. A Greek woman named Delma is mentioned in a historical record from the city of Ephesus, which was located in present-day Turkey.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals who bore the name Delma. In the 4th century AD, Delma of Alexandria was a renowned philosopher and scholar who wrote extensively on the subject of logic and metaphysics.
During the Byzantine era, Delma Palaeologus (1315 - 1374) was a prominent member of the Palaeologus dynasty, which ruled the Byzantine Empire from the 13th to the 15th century.
In more recent times, Delma Byrne (1901 - 1978) was an Australian author and poet who was widely celebrated for her work in depicting the Australian outback and rural life.
Another notable figure with the name Delma was Delma Kollar (1925 - 2002), an American artist and sculptor who gained recognition for her abstract and modernist works.
Lastly, Delma Tronrud (1932 - 2019) was a Norwegian-American politician who served as a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives for several terms in the late 20th century.
While the name Delma is not as common today as it once was, it holds a rich history and has been borne by individuals from various cultures and backgrounds over the centuries.
People
Delma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delma 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
Delma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,136 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delma 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 109,297 US residents.
Is Delma a common name?
We classify Delma as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,901 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delma most popular?
The single biggest year for Delma was 1926, when 250 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delma is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,149 people with the name Delma, or 1.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,833 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 Delma 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 Delma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delma leans strongly female. 4,741 people counted with this name were female (92.0%), compared with 415 male bearers (8.0%). 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 Delma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delma is Hispanic at 45.4%. The next largest groups are White (37.9%) and Black (11.2%). 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 Delma most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Delma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.4% (2,338 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 Delma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delma a female name?
Yes, 85.4% of people registered as Delma 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 Delma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delma 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 Delma 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 Delma as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Delma on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.