Dalaney
An English feminine name of unknown origin, possibly a blend of Dale and Laney.
Name Census estimates that about 616 living Americans carry the first name Dalaney. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dalaney today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dalaney births was 2005 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dalaney. 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
616
~ 1 in 556,419 Americans
Peak year
2005
52 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,977
Tracked since 1993
Census
Dalaney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 511 people with the first name Dalaney, which placed it at #20,272 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
#20,272
National first-name rank
People counted
511
511 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dalaney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dalaney is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Dalaney 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 Dalaney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.5% · 350
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 65
- Black or African American9.6% · 49
- Two or more races6.1% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
Popularity
Dalaney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dalaney from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 310 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dalaney 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 Dalaney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dalaneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the most babies named Dalaney, while Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dalaney
The name Dalaney is a variant of the Irish name Delaney, which is derived from the Gaelic surname Ó Duileannaigh. This surname is believed to have originated from the word "duilleanaigh," meaning "descendant of the challenger." The name can be traced back to the 10th century, when it was first recorded in County Laois, Ireland.
In the Middle Ages, the name Delaney was often associated with Irish nobility and the ruling classes. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, which mentions a nobleman named Delaney in the year 1152.
The name gained popularity throughout Ireland during the medieval period, and several notable individuals bore this name. One of the most famous was Dalaney O'Delaney, a 14th-century Irish chieftain and warrior who played a significant role in the Irish campaigns against the English during the Norman invasion of Ireland.
In the 16th century, the name Delaney was anglicized to Dalaney, and it began to spread beyond Ireland. One notable bearer of the name during this time was Dalaney FitzGerald, an Irish soldier who fought in the Nine Years' War against the English in the late 16th century.
Over the centuries, the name Dalaney has been carried by various individuals across different fields. In the 18th century, Dalaney Swift was an Irish poet and author who was a contemporary of Jonathan Swift. In the 19th century, Dalaney O'Connell was an Irish politician and member of the British Parliament, known for his advocacy of Irish independence.
In the 20th century, Dalaney Kearney was an Irish-American author and journalist who wrote extensively about Irish culture and history. Another notable figure was Dalaney Gallagher, an Irish-American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions in the mid-20th century.
While the name Dalaney is not as common as its parent form, Delaney, it has maintained a distinct Irish heritage and cultural significance over the centuries. The name continues to be used today, carrying with it a sense of Irish pride and a connection to a rich historical and cultural legacy.
People
Dalaney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dalaney 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
Dalaney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dalaney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 616 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dalaney 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 556,419 US residents.
Is Dalaney a common name?
We classify Dalaney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 625 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dalaney most popular?
The single biggest year for Dalaney was 2005, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dalaney is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dalaney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 511 people with the name Dalaney, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,272 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 Dalaney 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 Dalaney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dalaney leans strongly female. 498 people counted with this name were female (97.1%), compared with 15 male bearers (2.9%). 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 Dalaney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dalaney is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Dalaney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dalaney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (350 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 Dalaney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dalaney a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dalaney 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 Dalaney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dalaney 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 Dalaney 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 Dalaney?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.