Dell
A masculine name of English origin meaning "a valley or small ravine".
Name Census estimates that about 2,902 living Americans carry the first name Dell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Dell today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dell births was 1953 (133 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dell. 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.
Key insights
- • Dell sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 118,110 Americans
Peak year
1953
133 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,861
Tracked since 1880
Census
Dell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,333 people with the first name Dell, which placed it at #5,216 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
#5,216
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,333 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dell is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Black (21.9%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Dell 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 Dell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.8% · 2,294
- Black or African American21.9% · 729
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 102
- Two or more races2.9% · 95
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 72
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 41
Gender
Gender distribution for Dell
Dell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 6,546 total registrations, 4,002 (61.1%) were male and 2,544 (38.9%) were female.
Dell as a male name
- Ranked #7,861 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1953 (84 births)
Dell as a female name
- Ranked #10,807 in 1984
- 5 female births in 1984
- Peak: 1954 (57 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dell on both sides of the split. Of the 3,332 people counted with this name, 2,181 were male (65.5%) and 1,151 were female (34.5%).
Popularity
Dell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dell from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 1,161 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dell 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 Dell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Dell, while Wisconsin, Oklahoma, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dell
Dell is a masculine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English word "dell" which means a small valley or hollow. It is believed to have originated as a surname referring to someone who lived near a small valley or dell.
The name Dell has been in use since the Middle Ages, with one of the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 13th century. In the Hundred Rolls of 1273, there is a mention of a man named William del Dell, which suggests that the name was already in use as a surname at that time.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Dell was Dell Hendrix, an American musician and the father of the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Dell Hendrix was born in 1919 and played a significant role in nurturing his son's musical talent from an early age.
Another historical figure with the name Dell was Dell Curry, an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA from 1986 to 2002. He was born in 1964 and is best known for his time with the Charlotte Hornets. Dell Curry is also the father of NBA superstar Stephen Curry.
In the world of literature, Dell Andrews was an American author best known for her mystery novels featuring the character Muffy Davis. Andrews was born in 1915 and published her first novel, "Muffy in Miami," in 1950.
Dell Shannon was an American writer and screenwriter born in 1920. He is best known for his crime fiction novels featuring the character Lieutenant Luis Mendoza of the Los Angeles Police Department. Some of his notable works include "The Massacre at El Zapote" and "The Adventuress."
Finally, Dell Hymes was an American anthropologist, linguist, and sociolinguist born in 1927. He made significant contributions to the study of language and communication, particularly in the field of ethnography of communication. Hymes is widely recognized for his work on the ethnography of speaking and the development of the SPEAKING model.
People
Dell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dell 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
Dell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,902 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dell 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 118,110 US residents.
Is Dell a common name?
We classify Dell as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,546 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dell most popular?
The single biggest year for Dell was 1953, when 133 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dell is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,333 people with the name Dell, or 1.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,216 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 Dell 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 Dell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dell on both sides of the split. Of the 3,332 people counted with this name, 2,181 were male (65.5%) and 1,151 were female (34.5%). 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 Dell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dell is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Black (21.9%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Dell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.8% (2,294 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 Dell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dell a male name?
Yes, 61.1% of people registered as Dell 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 Dell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dell 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 Dell 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 are called Dell?
You can see how many people share the name Dell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.