Desere
Of Latin origin, meaning "to desire" or "desirable one".
Name Census estimates that about 184 living Americans carry the first name Desere. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Desere today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Desere births was 1990 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Desere. 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.
People living today
184
~ 1 in 1,862,795 Americans
Peak year
1990
15 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2003 SSA rank
#11,593
Tracked since 1969
Census
Desere in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 267 people with the first name Desere, which placed it at #31,863 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
#31,863
National first-name rank
People counted
267
267 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
33.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Desere
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desere is White at 33.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.5%) and Black (28.1%). 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 Desere 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 Desere at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White33.3% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino31.5% · 84
- Black or African American28.1% · 75
- Two or more races4.5% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Desere: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Desere from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 68 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Desere remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Desere 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 Desere during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Deseres live
Origin
Meaning and history of Desere
The name Desere is believed to have originated from the Latin word "desertus," which means "abandoned" or "forsaken." This etymology suggests that the name may have been given to children who were found in deserted or isolated areas, or perhaps to those who were abandoned by their parents.
During the Middle Ages, the name Desere was prevalent in certain regions of Europe, particularly in France and Italy. It was often used as a unisex name, given to both boys and girls. In some cases, the name was spelled slightly differently, such as "Desir" or "Dezir," but the meaning remained the same.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Desere can be found in the writings of the 12th-century French poet and trouvère, Chrétien de Troyes. In his famous Arthurian romance, "Yvain, the Knight of the Lion," he mentions a character named Desere, who is the daughter of a poor nobleman.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Desere de Villiers was a French knight who fought alongside Joan of Arc during the Siege of Orléans in 1429. He is recorded as having been born in 1402 and died in battle in 1431.
Another historical figure with the name Desere was an Italian painter from the Renaissance period. Desere Boccaccio, born in 1450 in Florence, was known for his frescoes and religious artwork adorning various churches and monasteries throughout Italy.
In the 16th century, there was a Spanish explorer named Desere de Quiñones, who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to conquer the Aztec Empire in present-day Mexico. He was born in 1492 and is believed to have died in 1548 in Veracruz.
Lastly, one of the more recent historical figures with the name Desere was a French resistance fighter during World War II. Desere Lacroix, born in 1915, played a crucial role in the Maquis movement, helping to sabotage German operations in occupied France. She was captured and executed by the Nazis in 1944.
While the name Desere may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and diverse origins across different cultures and time periods make it a unique and intriguing name with a fascinating backstory.
People
Desere + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Desere 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
Desere: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Desere?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 184 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Desere 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 1,862,795 US residents.
Is Desere a common name?
We classify Desere as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 193 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Desere most popular?
The single biggest year for Desere was 1990, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Desere is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Desere in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 267 people with the name Desere, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,863 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 Desere 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 Desere?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Desere leans strongly female. 269 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Desere?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desere is White at 33.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.5%) and Black (28.1%). 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 Desere most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Desere in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.3% (89 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 Desere in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Desere a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Desere 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 Desere still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Desere 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 Desere 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 Desere?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.