Deral
A masculine name of English origins, meaning "brave leader".
Name Census estimates that about 113 living Americans carry the first name Deral. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Deral today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deral births was 1942 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deral. 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 Deral is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Derals were born before 1966.
People living today
113
~ 1 in 3,033,224 Americans
Peak year
1942
12 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1981 SSA rank
#5,669
Tracked since 1926
Census
Deral in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 231 people with the first name Deral, which placed it at #35,041 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
#35,041
National first-name rank
People counted
231
231 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deral
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deral is White at 66.2%. The next largest groups are Black (22.5%) and Hispanic (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 Deral 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 Deral at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.2% · 153
- Black or African American22.5% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 9
- Two or more races3.9% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Deral: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deral from the 1920s through to the 1980s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 58 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
Deral 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 Deral 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 Deral
The given name Deral is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with roots dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain between the 5th and 11th centuries. The name is thought to be derived from the Old English words "deor," meaning "deer," and "ald," meaning "old" or "venerable," suggesting a connection to the natural world and a sense of reverence or respect.
While the exact origins and meanings of many ancient names are often obscured by the passage of time, some scholars speculate that Deral may have been initially used as a descriptive name or nickname, perhaps referring to someone with a connection to deer or the hunt, or someone who was considered wise or experienced like an "old deer."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Deral appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, a detailed survey of landholdings and property ownership commissioned by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest of England. The entry mentions a landowner named Deral who held property in the county of Essex.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Deral appears sporadically in various records and chronicles, although it never achieved widespread popularity. One notable bearer of the name was Sir Deral of Redcliffe (c. 1310-1378), a respected knight and military commander who served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War with France.
During the Renaissance period, a prominent figure named Deral emerged in the form of Deral Holinshed (c. 1525-1580), an English chronicler and historian best known for his significant work, "Holinshed's Chronicles," which documented the history of England, Scotland, and Ireland and served as a source for many of William Shakespeare's plays.
In the 19th century, the name Deral gained some recognition with the birth of Deral Hart Keen (1828-1891), an American entrepreneur and inventor who founded the Keen Cutter Company, a successful manufacturer of cutting tools and industrial supplies.
Another notable bearer of the name Deral was the Australian artist and painter Deral Deane (1892-1971), whose landscape paintings and depictions of rural life in Australia earned him critical acclaim and a place in the country's artistic heritage.
Despite its rich historical lineage, the name Deral has remained relatively uncommon throughout the centuries, with few documented instances of its use in recent times. However, its unique sound and connection to the natural world and ancient English roots may appeal to those seeking a name with a sense of tradition and a subtle nod to the past.
People
Deral + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deral 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
Deral: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deral?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 113 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deral 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 3,033,224 US residents.
Is Deral a common name?
We classify Deral as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 203 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deral most popular?
The single biggest year for Deral was 1942, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deral is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deral in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 231 people with the name Deral, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,041 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 Deral 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 Deral?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deral leans strongly male. 218 people counted with this name were male (95.6%), compared with 10 female bearers (4.4%). 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 Deral?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deral is White at 66.2%. The next largest groups are Black (22.5%) and Hispanic (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 Deral most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deral in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.2% (153 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 Deral in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deral a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Deral 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 Deral still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deral 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 Deral 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 are named Deral?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.