Delvin
A masculine name of English origin meaning "from the town of Dale".
Name Census estimates that about 4,317 living Americans carry the first name Delvin. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Delvin today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delvin births was 1978 (194 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delvin. 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 Delvin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.3K
~ 1 in 79,396 Americans
Peak year
1978
194 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,208
Tracked since 1914
Census
Delvin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,786 people with the first name Delvin, which placed it at #4,781 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
#4,781
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,786 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delvin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delvin is Black at 52.8%. The next largest groups are White (23.6%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Delvin 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 Delvin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.8% · 1,999
- White23.6% · 893
- Hispanic or Latino14.3% · 540
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.3% · 164
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 97
- Two or more races2.5% · 93
Gender
Gender distribution for Delvin
Out of the 5,333 babies given the name Delvin since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Delvin as a male name
- Ranked #4,208 in 2024
- 25 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1978 (186 births)
Delvin as a female name
- Ranked #15,902 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1978 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delvin leans strongly male. 3,705 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 81 female bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Delvin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delvin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 825 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Delvin 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 Delvin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Delvins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Delvin, while Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Delvin
The name Delvin is believed to have originated from the Irish Gaelic language. It is a variant spelling of the name Delfin, which is derived from the Irish word "delfín" meaning "dolphin" or "little dolphin." This name likely emerged during the Middle Ages in Ireland, possibly as early as the 8th or 9th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Delvin was in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient Irish chronicle that documented events from the 5th to the 16th century. In this text, the name Delvin is mentioned in reference to a notable figure from the 12th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Delvin. One example is Delvin of Athboy, an Irish nobleman who lived in the 14th century and was known for his involvement in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.
Another notable figure with the name Delvin was Delvin O'Toole, an Irish poet and bard who lived in the 16th century. His works were highly regarded in his time and helped preserve the Irish literary tradition.
In the 17th century, Delvin Butler was an Irish military leader who fought in the Confederate Wars of the 1640s. He was known for his bravery and leadership on the battlefield.
Moving into the 18th century, Delvin Carney was an Irish-American politician who served as a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly in the late 1700s.
Lastly, in the 19th century, Delvin O'Brien was an Irish-born American soldier who fought in the American Civil War. He earned recognition for his valor and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
While the name Delvin is not as common today as it once was, it remains a unique and meaningful name with a rich historical background rooted in Irish culture and tradition.
People
Delvin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delvin 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
Delvin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delvin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,317 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delvin 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 79,396 US residents.
Is Delvin a common name?
We classify Delvin as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,333 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delvin most popular?
The single biggest year for Delvin was 1978, when 194 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delvin is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delvin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,786 people with the name Delvin, or 1.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,781 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 Delvin 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 Delvin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delvin leans strongly male. 3,705 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 81 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Delvin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delvin is Black at 52.8%. The next largest groups are White (23.6%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Delvin most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Delvin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.8% (1,999 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 Delvin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delvin a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Delvin 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 Delvin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delvin 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 Delvin 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 common is the name Delvin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.