Destinee
A feminine name of French origin meaning "destiny", "future", or "fate".
Name Census estimates that about 16,370 living Americans carry the first name Destinee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Destinee today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Destinee births was 1999 (1,002 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Destinee. 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 Destinee with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 20,938 Americans
Peak year
1999
1,002 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,557
Tracked since 1973
Census
Destinee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,481 people with the first name Destinee, which placed it at #2,138 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
#2,138
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,481 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
40.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Destinee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Destinee is Black at 40.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Hispanic (18.7%). 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 Destinee 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 Destinee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American40.6% · 5,068
- White31.0% · 3,870
- Hispanic or Latino18.7% · 2,330
- Two or more races7.5% · 934
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 152
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 127
Popularity
Destinee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Destinee from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 6,882 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
Destinee 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 Destinee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Destinees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Destinee, while Wyoming, Nebraska, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 344 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Destinee
The name Destinee is a French variant of the word "destiny," which comes from the Latin word "destinata," meaning "made stable" or "established." It is a feminine name that has been in use since the late 16th century.
The earliest recorded use of the name Destinee can be traced back to France, where it was used as a symbolic name representing fate or predestination. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the name gained popularity among French aristocrats and nobility, who believed that names held spiritual significance and could shape a person's character and future.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Destinee was Destinee de la Barre, a French noblewoman who lived in the late 17th century. She was known for her involvement in the Affair of the Poisons, a famous scandal that rocked the French court during the reign of King Louis XIV.
In the 19th century, the name Destinee made its way across the Atlantic to the United States, where it was adopted by some families, particularly those with French heritage. One notable American bearer of the name was Destinee Pattison (1854-1932), a pioneering educator and suffragist who fought for women's rights and advocated for educational reform.
During the 20th century, the name Destinee became more widely used, transcending its French roots and gaining popularity among diverse cultural groups. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Destinee Hooker (1962-), an American poet and author who has published several collections of poetry and worked as a professor of English.
Another notable Destinee was Destinee Williams (1988-), an American professional basketball player who played for the University of Illinois and was drafted by the Chicago Sky in the WNBA. She had a successful career spanning over a decade and was known for her defensive skills and leadership on the court.
In recent years, the name Destinee has continued to be used around the world, with variations in spelling and pronunciation depending on the cultural context. While its origins are rooted in French language and culture, the name has taken on a universal appeal, symbolizing a sense of purpose, fate, and the belief that one's destiny is predetermined.
People
Destinee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Destinee 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
Destinee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Destinee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16,370 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Destinee 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 20,938 US residents.
Is Destinee a common name?
We classify Destinee as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,746 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Destinee most popular?
The single biggest year for Destinee was 1999, when 1,002 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Destinee is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Destinee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,481 people with the name Destinee, or 4.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,138 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 Destinee 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 Destinee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Destinee appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,483 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Destinee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Destinee is Black at 40.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Hispanic (18.7%). 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 Destinee most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Destinee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.6% (5,068 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 Destinee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Destinee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Destinee 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 Destinee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Destinee 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 Destinee 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 share the name Destinee?
Want to know how many people have the name Destinee? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.