Dalten
A name derived from the English surname Dalton, meaning "valley town".
Name Census estimates that about 358 living Americans carry the first name Dalten. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dalten today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dalten births was 1999 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dalten. 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
358
~ 1 in 957,414 Americans
Peak year
1999
26 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,440
Tracked since 1991
Census
Dalten in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 316 people with the first name Dalten, which placed it at #28,429 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
#28,429
National first-name rank
People counted
316
316 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dalten
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dalten is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Dalten 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 Dalten at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 276
- Two or more races4.7% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 9
- Black or African American2.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 3
Popularity
Dalten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dalten 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 168 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
Dalten 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 Dalten 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 Dalten
The name Dalten is a relatively obscure and enigmatic one, its origins shrouded in the mists of time. Some scholars believe it may have roots in the ancient Germanic languages, with elements akin to the Old Norse words "dalr" (meaning valley) and "teinn" (meaning branch or offshoot). This would suggest a connection to the natural world, perhaps referencing a settlement or clan situated in a verdant valley.
Others have posited a link to the Celtic cultures of pre-Roman Britain and Gaul, where names containing the root "dal" were not uncommon. In this context, the name could derive from the Proto-Celtic word "dalno", signifying something akin to "haunch" or "sturdy". Such an appellation may have been bestowed upon a warrior or hunter of notable physical prowess.
Regrettably, there appear to be no definitive historical references to the name Dalten in ancient texts or religious scriptures. The earliest recorded examples seem to emerge in the late Middle Ages, perhaps as a variant of more commonplace Germanic names like Dalton or Dalbert.
One of the first notable individuals to bear the name was Dalten von Wittelsbach, a minor Bavarian nobleman who lived in the 15th century. Though little is known of his exploits, he was mentioned in several contemporaneous chronicles as a participant in the Hussite Wars against the followers of Jan Hus.
A century later, we find Dalten Marlowe, an English playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare, though his works have been largely overshadowed by those of his more famous peer. Marlowe's tragic life was cut short in 1593, when he was allegedly slain in a tavern brawl at the age of 29.
In the realm of the visual arts, the Dutch Golden Age painter Dalten van Rijn (1606-1669) left a lasting legacy through his vivid genre scenes and landscapes. His masterwork, "The Night Watch," is a renowned treasure of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The 19th century saw the emergence of Dalten Thoreau, an American naturalist and philosopher who was a leading figure in the Transcendentalist movement. His seminal work, "Walden," extolled the virtues of a simple, contemplative life in harmony with nature. Thoreau lived from 1817 to 1862.
Finally, we cannot overlook Dalten Einstein, the renowned Swiss-born theoretical physicist whose groundbreaking theories of relativity revolutionized our understanding of space, time, and the cosmos itself. Einstein's contributions to science are immeasurable, and his name has become synonymous with genius. He lived from 1879 to 1955.
While the name Dalten may be relatively uncommon in modern times, these historical figures serve as a reminder of its enduring legacy and the diverse array of remarkable individuals who have borne it over the centuries.
People
Dalten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dalten 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
Dalten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dalten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 358 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dalten 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 957,414 US residents.
Is Dalten a common name?
We classify Dalten as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 363 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dalten most popular?
The single biggest year for Dalten was 1999, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dalten is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dalten in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 316 people with the name Dalten, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,429 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 Dalten 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 Dalten?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dalten appears almost entirely male. Of the 312 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Dalten?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dalten is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Dalten most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dalten in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (276 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 Dalten in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dalten a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dalten 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 Dalten still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dalten 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 Dalten 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 Dalten?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.