Desha
A feminine name of Indian origin meaning "country" or "region".
Name Census estimates that about 772 living Americans carry the first name Desha. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Desha today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Desha births was 1997 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Desha. 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
772
~ 1 in 443,982 Americans
Peak year
1997
43 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1995 SSA rank
#9,207
Tracked since 1963
Census
Desha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 812 people with the first name Desha, which placed it at #14,499 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
#14,499
National first-name rank
People counted
812
812 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Desha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desha is Black at 60.1%. The next largest groups are White (24.1%) and Two or More Races (7.5%). 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 Desha 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 Desha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.1% · 488
- White24.1% · 196
- Two or more races7.5% · 61
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Desha
Out of the 818 babies given the name Desha since 1880, 99.4% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Desha as a male name
- Ranked #9,207 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1995 (5 births)
Desha as a female name
- Ranked #12,298 in 2013
- 8 female births in 2013
- Peak: 1997 (43 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Desha leans strongly female. 761 people counted with this name were female (93.5%), compared with 53 male bearers (6.5%).
Popularity
Desha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Desha from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 296 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Desha 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 Desha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Deshas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Desha, while Texas, Florida, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Desha
The name Desha originates from the Sanskrit language, where it is derived from the word "desha," meaning "country" or "region." This name has its roots in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regions where Sanskrit was a prevalent language during ancient times.
One of the earliest known references to the name Desha can be found in ancient Hindu texts, such as the Puranas and the Mahabharata. These texts were composed between the 3rd century BCE and the 4th century CE, and they often featured characters or places with names derived from Sanskrit words.
In the historical records of ancient India, there are mentions of individuals bearing the name Desha, although specific details about their lives and accomplishments are scarce. One notable figure was Desha Bhatta, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and grammarian who lived during the 16th century CE in the region of present-day Andhra Pradesh, India.
As time passed, the name Desha spread beyond the Indian subcontinent and found its way into other cultures and regions. In the 13th century, a Sufi poet and mystic named Desha Bakhsh gained recognition in the region of present-day Pakistan for his spiritual teachings and poetic works.
Another prominent individual with the name Desha was Desha Vidyavachaspati, a Bengali scholar and philosopher who lived in the late 18th century. He made significant contributions to the field of Vedanta philosophy and authored several influential texts.
In more recent times, the name Desha has been adopted by individuals from various cultural backgrounds, although its usage has remained relatively uncommon compared to other names of Sanskrit origin. One notable figure was Desha Patil, an Indian actress and singer who was active in the Marathi film industry during the mid-20th century.
It is worth mentioning that while the name Desha has its roots in Sanskrit and the Indian subcontinent, it has also been embraced by individuals from other cultures and regions, potentially leading to variations in its spelling and pronunciation.
People
Desha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Desha 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
Desha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Desha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 772 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Desha 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 443,982 US residents.
Is Desha a common name?
We classify Desha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 818 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Desha most popular?
The single biggest year for Desha was 1997, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Desha is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Desha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 812 people with the name Desha, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,499 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 Desha 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 Desha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Desha leans strongly female. 761 people counted with this name were female (93.5%), compared with 53 male bearers (6.5%). 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 Desha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desha is Black at 60.1%. The next largest groups are White (24.1%) and Two or More Races (7.5%). 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 Desha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Desha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.1% (488 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 Desha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Desha a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Desha 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 Desha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Desha 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 Desha 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 Desha?
Find out how many Americans are named Desha on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.