De
A French preposition meaning "of" or signifying origin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,110 living Americans carry the first name De. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 51.5% of registrations being male. The average person named De today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of De births was 1992 (64 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for De. 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 De with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • De sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 308,788 Americans
Peak year
1992
64 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2011 SSA rank
#9,869
Tracked since 1914
Census
De in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,483 people with the first name De, which placed it at #6,458 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
#6,458
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,483 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
64.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for De
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named De is Asian/Pacific Islander at 64.1%. The next largest groups are White (19.7%) and Black (10.1%). 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 De 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 De at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander64.1% · 1,592
- White19.7% · 488
- Black or African American10.1% · 251
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 96
- Two or more races1.9% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for De
De is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,322 total registrations, 681 (51.5%) were male and 641 (48.5%) were female.
De as a male name
- Ranked #9,869 in 2011
- 7 male births in 2011
- Peak: 1992 (46 births)
De as a female name
- Ranked #17,154 in 2005
- 5 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1968 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows De on both sides of the split. Of the 2,481 people counted with this name, 1,605 were male (64.7%) and 876 were female (35.3%).
Popularity
De: popularity over time
The SSA tracks De from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 479 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
De 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 De during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Des live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named De, while Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of De
The name De is a short form derived from the Romance languages, particularly French and Italian. It traces its roots back to the Latin word "Deus," meaning "God." In medieval times, it was commonly used as a prefix in names to indicate a person's devotion to God or the church.
One of the earliest recorded uses of De as a given name can be found in the 12th century, when Saint Dominic de Guzmán, the founder of the Dominican Order, was born in Spain around 1170. He played a significant role in the fight against the Albigensian heresy and the establishment of the Dominican order.
Another notable figure with the name De was Dante Alighieri, the Italian poet and philosopher born in 1265. His epic poem, the Divine Comedy, is considered one of the greatest works of world literature and had a profound impact on the Italian language and culture.
In the 16th century, De Valera, an Irish chieftain and one of the most prominent leaders of the Irish Confederate Wars, was born around 1585. He played a crucial role in the rebellion against English rule in Ireland.
During the 17th century, De La Salle, a French priest and educational reformer, was born in 1651. He is renowned for founding the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a religious order dedicated to teaching and educating children, particularly those from impoverished backgrounds.
In more recent times, De Niro, the acclaimed American actor and producer, was born in 1943. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, having starred in numerous iconic films such as "The Godfather Part II," "Taxi Driver," and "Raging Bull."
While De is a relatively uncommon given name in modern times, its historical significance and ties to various cultural and religious traditions make it a name with a rich and diverse heritage.
People
De + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with De 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
De: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named De?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,110 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for De 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 308,788 US residents.
Is De a common name?
We classify De as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,322 babies have been registered with this name.
When was De most popular?
The single biggest year for De was 1992, when 64 babies received the name. The fact that the average living De is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was De in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,483 people with the name De, or 0.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,458 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 De 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 De?
The 2020 Census sex table shows De on both sides of the split. Of the 2,481 people counted with this name, 1,605 were male (64.7%) and 876 were female (35.3%). 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 De?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named De is Asian/Pacific Islander at 64.1%. The next largest groups are White (19.7%) and Black (10.1%). 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 De most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named De in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.1% (1,592 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 De in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is De a male name?
Yes, 51.5% of people registered as De 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 De still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded De 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 De 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 De?
See how many Americans are named De on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.