Delton
A masculine given name of English origin meaning "from the valley town".
Name Census estimates that about 2,854 living Americans carry the first name Delton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Delton today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delton births was 1933 (77 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delton. 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 Delton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 120,096 Americans
Peak year
1933
77 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,333
Tracked since 1908
Census
Delton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,451 people with the first name Delton, which placed it at #6,519 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
#6,519
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,451 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delton is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Black (27.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.9%). 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 Delton 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 Delton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.4% · 1,506
- Black or African American27.0% · 662
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.9% · 96
- Two or more races3.4% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 39
Popularity
Delton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delton from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 651 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
Delton 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 Delton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Deltons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Delton, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Delton
The name Delton is a relatively modern name, with origins that can be traced back to the early 20th century. It is believed to have been derived from a combination of the English name Dell, which means "valley" or "dell," and the suffix "-ton," which is commonly used in English place names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Delton can be found in the 1920 United States Census, where a small number of individuals were listed with this name. However, it remained a relatively uncommon name throughout the first half of the 20th century.
The name Delton does not appear to have any significant historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures. Its modern usage and lack of ancient roots suggest that it was likely created as a new name in the late 19th or early 20th century.
Despite its relatively recent origins, there have been a few notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Delton. One of the earliest was Delton L. Gernant (1884-1963), an American educator and administrator who served as the president of Winona State Teachers College (now Winona State University) from 1939 to 1951.
Another notable individual with the name Delton was Delton T. Doll (1919-2001), an American professional basketball player who played for the Fort Wayne Pistons in the National Basketball League during the 1940s.
In the field of literature, Delton L. Scudder (1926-2018) was an American author and professor who wrote several books on the history of the American West and Native American studies.
Delton L. Byars (1932-2022) was an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Byars Foundation, which supports various charitable causes in the state of Texas.
Finally, Delton W. Krueger (1937-2021) was a prominent American architect known for his work on several high-profile projects, including the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Naples, Florida.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Delton, showcasing its relatively modern origins and usage primarily in the United States.
People
Delton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delton 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
Delton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,854 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delton 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 120,096 US residents.
Is Delton a common name?
We classify Delton as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,733 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delton most popular?
The single biggest year for Delton was 1933, when 77 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delton is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,451 people with the name Delton, or 0.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,519 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 Delton 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 Delton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delton appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,452 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Delton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delton is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Black (27.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.9%). 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 Delton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Delton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.4% (1,506 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 Delton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Delton 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 Delton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delton 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 Delton 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 Americans are named Delton?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.