Dezmond
The English variant of the French name Desmond meaning a dweller of a great hill.
Name Census estimates that about 3,510 living Americans carry the first name Dezmond. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dezmond today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dezmond births was 2009 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dezmond. 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
3.5K
~ 1 in 97,651 Americans
Peak year
2009
135 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,832
Tracked since 1975
Census
Dezmond in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,374 people with the first name Dezmond, which placed it at #6,684 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
#6,684
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,374 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dezmond
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dezmond is Black at 46.5%. The next largest groups are White (17.9%) and Hispanic (16.8%). 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 Dezmond 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 Dezmond at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.5% · 1,104
- White17.9% · 425
- Hispanic or Latino16.8% · 398
- Two or more races15.5% · 368
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 31
Popularity
Dezmond: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dezmond from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,182 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dezmond remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dezmond 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 Dezmond during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dezmonds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Dezmond, while Nevada, New Mexico, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dezmond
The name Dezmond is derived from the Old French name Desmond, which itself originated from the Old Gaelic name Deasmhumhain, meaning "South Munster". This name was first used in Ireland during the Middle Ages to refer to the region of South Munster, which was ruled by the Deasmhumhain clan.
The name Dezmond is a variant spelling that emerged in the 17th century, likely influenced by the French spelling of the name, Desmond. It was popularized in English-speaking countries during this time period, as many Irish names were anglicized or adapted to fit English pronunciation and spelling conventions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dezmond can be found in the 14th-century Irish annals, which mention several members of the Deasmhumhain clan, including the powerful Irish king Dezmond MacCarthy Reagh, who ruled over South Munster in the late 1300s.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence due to the Earl of Desmond, a title held by the FitzGerald dynasty, which ruled over the territory of Desmond in Ireland. The most famous Earl of Desmond was Gerald FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Desmond (1533-1583), who led a rebellion against English rule in Ireland known as the Desmond Rebellions.
Another notable figure in history with the name Dezmond was Dezmond Doss (1919-2006), an American World War II combat medic who became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the Battle of Okinawa.
Other historical figures with the name Dezmond include Dezmond Tutu (1931-2021), a South African Anglican bishop and anti-apartheid activist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, and Dezmond Wilkinson (1898-1976), a British actor and film director known for his work in the 1940s and 1950s.
Overall, the name Dezmond has a rich history rooted in Irish and Gaelic traditions, with various spellings and adaptations emerging over the centuries as it spread to other parts of the world.
People
Dezmond + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dezmond 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
Dezmond: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dezmond?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,510 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dezmond 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 97,651 US residents.
Is Dezmond a common name?
We classify Dezmond as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,561 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dezmond most popular?
The single biggest year for Dezmond was 2009, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dezmond is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dezmond in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,374 people with the name Dezmond, or 0.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,684 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 Dezmond 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 Dezmond?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dezmond leans strongly male. 2,346 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 25 female 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 Dezmond?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dezmond is Black at 46.5%. The next largest groups are White (17.9%) and Hispanic (16.8%). 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 Dezmond most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dezmond in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.5% (1,104 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 Dezmond in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dezmond a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dezmond 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 Dezmond still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dezmond 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 Dezmond 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 Dezmond?
Want to know how many people have the name Dezmond? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.