Desira
A feminine name derived from the Latin "desiderare," meaning "to yearn for" or "to desire."
Name Census estimates that about 212 living Americans carry the first name Desira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Desira today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Desira births was 1992 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Desira. 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
212
~ 1 in 1,616,766 Americans
Peak year
1992
15 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2004 SSA rank
#10,112
Tracked since 1942
Census
Desira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 285 people with the first name Desira, which placed it at #30,528 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
#30,528
National first-name rank
People counted
285
285 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Desira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desira is White at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (32.6%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Desira 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 Desira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.3% · 132
- Black or African American32.6% · 93
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 29
- Two or more races8.1% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Desira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Desira from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 91 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
Desira 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 Desira 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 Desira
The name Desira is believed to have its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, tracing back to around the 2nd century BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "deshira," which means "one who is desired" or "the desirable one." This name was primarily used in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in the regions of modern-day India and Nepal.
One of the earliest known references to the name Desira can be found in the ancient Hindu text, the Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a minor character. This epic, composed between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE, is considered one of the most significant literary works in Sanskrit.
In the 5th century CE, there was a notable figure named Desira, who was a renowned scholar and poet from the Gupta Empire in northern India. Her works, though largely lost to time, were celebrated for their lyrical beauty and exploration of spiritual themes.
During the medieval period, the name Desira gained popularity among the ruling classes of the Indian subcontinent. One notable bearer was Desira Devi, a Rajput queen who ruled over the kingdom of Mewar in the 13th century. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her efforts in promoting education and culture.
In the 16th century, a Mughal prince named Desira Shah was a prominent figure in the court of Emperor Akbar. He was renowned for his military prowess and served as a successful general, leading campaigns against rival kingdoms.
Another historical figure with the name Desira was a Buddhist nun who lived in the 17th century in Nepal. Known as Desira Yogini, she was revered for her spiritual teachings and her contributions to the preservation of Buddhist philosophy and practices in the Himalayan region.
While the name Desira has its roots in the Indian subcontinent, it has also been adopted and adapted in various cultures and languages over time. However, its earliest and most significant historical references can be traced back to the ancient Sanskrit language and the rich cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent.
People
Desira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Desira 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
Desira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Desira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 212 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Desira 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 1,616,766 US residents.
Is Desira a common name?
We classify Desira as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 227 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Desira most popular?
The single biggest year for Desira was 1992, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Desira 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 Desira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 285 people with the name Desira, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,528 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 Desira 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 Desira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Desira leans strongly female. 280 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 7 male bearers (2.4%). 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 Desira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desira is White at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (32.6%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Desira most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Desira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (132 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 Desira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Desira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Desira 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 Desira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Desira 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 Desira 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 Desira?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.