Desmond
A masculine name of French origin meaning "from Desmonde".
Name Census estimates that about 37,444 living Americans carry the first name Desmond. It sits at #368 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Desmond today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Desmond births was 1992 (1,079 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Desmond. 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 Desmond with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Desmond is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 233 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
37K
~ 1 in 9,154 Americans
Peak year
1992
1,079 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#368
Tracked since 1904
Census
Desmond in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 30,857 people with the first name Desmond, which placed it at #1,236 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
#1,236
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
30,857 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Desmond
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desmond is Black at 52.9%. The next largest groups are White (26.2%) and Two or More Races (8.5%). 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 Desmond 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 Desmond at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.9% · 16,331
- White26.2% · 8,099
- Two or more races8.5% · 2,620
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 2,589
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 922
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 296
Gender
Gender distribution for Desmond
Out of the 39,419 babies given the name Desmond since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Desmond as a male name
- Ranked #368 in 2024
- 888 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (1,068 births)
Desmond as a female name
- Ranked #17,244 in 2013
- 5 female births in 2013
- Peak: 1997 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Desmond appears almost entirely male. Of the 30,864 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Desmond: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Desmond from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 9,464 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Desmond remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Desmond 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 Desmond during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Desmonds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Desmond, while Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 701 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Desmond
The name Desmond originated from the Old French "Desmund" or "Desiree", which means "one who is protected" or "desired". It is derived from the Germanic elements "des" meaning "people" and "mund" meaning "protection". The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Desmond can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and resources in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Desemundus" in this historic document, referring to a landowner in the county of Berkshire.
In the 12th century, the Desmond family became one of the most powerful and influential Norman noble houses in Ireland. The Desmonds were the Lords of Desmond, a territory spanning parts of modern-day counties Cork and Kerry. The family played a significant role in Irish history, often clashing with English authorities during the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
One notable bearer of the name was Desmond Tutu, a South African Anglican bishop and theologian who was born in 1931 and passed away in 2021. He was a renowned anti-apartheid activist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his efforts in promoting racial equality and human rights.
Another famous Desmond was Desmond Morris, a British zoologist, ethologist, and popular author who was born in 1928 and passed away in 2022. He is best known for his groundbreaking work on human behavior and body language, including the book "The Naked Ape" published in 1967.
Desmond Doss, an American World War II hero, was born in 1919 and passed away in 2006. He was a combat medic in the United States Army and became the first conscientious objector to receive the prestigious Medal of Honor for his bravery and selfless actions during the Battle of Okinawa.
Desmond Llewelyn, a Welsh actor, was born in 1914 and passed away in 1999. He is widely recognized for his portrayal of Q, the quartermaster in the James Bond film series, appearing in 17 Bond films between 1963 and 1999.
Desmond Dekker, a Jamaican ska and reggae singer and songwriter, was born in 1941 and passed away in 2006. He is considered one of the pioneers of the reggae genre and is best known for his hit songs like "Israelites" and "007 (Shanty Town)".
Notable bearers
Famous people named Desmond
People
Desmond + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Desmond 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
Desmond: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Desmond?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,444 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Desmond 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 9,154 US residents.
Is Desmond a common name?
We classify Desmond as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Desmond most popular?
The single biggest year for Desmond was 1992, when 1,079 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Desmond is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Desmond in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 30,857 people with the name Desmond, or 10.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,236 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 Desmond 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 Desmond?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Desmond appears almost entirely male. Of the 30,864 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Desmond?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Desmond is Black at 52.9%. The next largest groups are White (26.2%) and Two or More Races (8.5%). 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 Desmond most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Desmond in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.9% (16,331 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 Desmond in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Desmond a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Desmond 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 Desmond still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Desmond 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 Desmond 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 Desmond?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.