Deidra
An English feminine form of the Greek name Deidameia, meaning "revealer of the future".
Name Census estimates that about 9,098 living Americans carry the first name Deidra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Deidra today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deidra births was 1980 (340 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deidra. 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
9.1K
~ 1 in 37,674 Americans
Peak year
1980
340 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2020 SSA rank
#15,703
Tracked since 1941
Census
Deidra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,784 people with the first name Deidra, which placed it at #2,675 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
#2,675
National first-name rank
People counted
8.8K
8,784 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deidra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deidra is White at 49.0%. The next largest groups are Black (39.6%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Deidra 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 Deidra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.0% · 4,302
- Black or African American39.6% · 3,481
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 436
- Two or more races3.8% · 338
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 182
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 45
Popularity
Deidra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deidra from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 2,699 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deidra 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 Deidra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Deidras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Deidra, while Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 204 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Deidra
The name Deidra has its origins in the Irish and Gaelic languages, derived from the Old Irish word 'deidghfir,' meaning 'wanderer' or 'stranger.' It first emerged in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 7th centuries CE, when Ireland and parts of Scotland were populated by Celtic tribes and clans.
Deidra was a feminine form of the masculine name Deidghfir, which was commonly used among the ancient Irish and Scots. The earliest known reference to the name can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient chronicle written by medieval Irish monks, which recorded events from the 5th to the 16th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Deidra was Deidra of Kildare, an Irish noblewoman who lived in the 8th century CE. She was known for her charitable works and her patronage of the famous Kildare Abbey, one of the most significant monasteries in medieval Ireland.
In the 11th century, a woman named Deidra of Connacht was a prominent figure in Irish history. She was the daughter of the King of Connacht, a powerful Irish province, and played a vital role in negotiating peace treaties between warring clans.
During the 12th century, Deidra mac Domhnaill was a renowned Irish poet and bard. She was celebrated for her eloquent verses and her skill in composing intricate poems and songs in the Gaelic language.
In the 15th century, Deidra O'Donnell was a notable figure in the Irish Renaissance. She was a skilled calligrapher and illuminator, known for her beautiful and intricate manuscript illustrations, which adorned many important texts and religious works of the time.
Another historical figure with the name Deidra was Deidra Stewart, a Scottish noblewoman who lived in the 16th century. She was a influential member of the court of King James V of Scotland and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Scottish monarchy during her lifetime.
While the name Deidra was once quite common in Ireland and Scotland, it became less widely used over time. However, it has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries, where it is now considered a unique and distinctive name with a rich historical and cultural heritage.
People
Deidra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deidra 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
Deidra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deidra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,098 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deidra 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 37,674 US residents.
Is Deidra a common name?
We classify Deidra as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,287 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deidra most popular?
The single biggest year for Deidra was 1980, when 340 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deidra is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deidra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,784 people with the name Deidra, or 2.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,675 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 Deidra 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 Deidra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deidra appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,785 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Deidra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deidra is White at 49.0%. The next largest groups are Black (39.6%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Deidra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deidra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.0% (4,302 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 Deidra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deidra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Deidra 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 Deidra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deidra 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 Deidra 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 have Deidra as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Deidra, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.