Delmar
From Old French meaning "from the sea marsh" or "sea marsh dweller".
Name Census estimates that about 5,177 living Americans carry the first name Delmar. It is a predominantly male name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Delmar today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delmar births was 1927 (360 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delmar. 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
- • Although Delmar is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 134 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
5.2K
~ 1 in 66,207 Americans
Peak year
1927
360 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,726
Tracked since 1880
Census
Delmar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,572 people with the first name Delmar, which placed it at #3,659 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
#3,659
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,572 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delmar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delmar is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.3%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Delmar 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 Delmar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.0% · 4,011
- Black or African American14.3% · 799
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 439
- Two or more races2.7% · 153
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 106
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 64
Gender
Gender distribution for Delmar
Out of the 14,361 babies given the name Delmar since 1880, 99.1% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Delmar as a male name
- Ranked #4,726 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1931 (354 births)
Delmar as a female name
- Ranked #5,019 in 1957
- 7 female births in 1957
- Peak: 1915 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delmar leans strongly male. 5,457 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 112 female bearers (2.0%).
Popularity
Delmar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delmar from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 3,256 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Delmar 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 Delmar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Delmars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Illinois, Ohio, Missouri recorded the most babies named Delmar, while New Jersey, Montana, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 264 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Delmar
The name Delmar is a masculine given name of English origin. It is a combination of the Old English elements "del" meaning "valley" and "mær" meaning "pool" or "lake". The name was likely first used to describe someone who resided near a valley with a pool or small body of water.
In the Middle Ages, the name was occasionally recorded in various spellings such as Delmarus, Delmaire, and Delmayre in medieval English and Norman records. However, it was not a widely popular name during this time period.
The earliest recorded use of the name Delmar dates back to the 16th century. One notable individual with this name was Delmar Fulcher, an English Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake in 1556 for his religious beliefs during the Marian Persecutions.
In the 17th century, the name gained some popularity among Puritan settlers in the American colonies. Delmar Hutchinson, a Puritan minister and one of the founders of the town of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was born in 1621.
In the 19th century, the name saw a slight resurgence in usage, particularly in the United States. Delmar Mulock, an American Civil War soldier and recipient of the Medal of Honor, was born in 1833.
Another notable bearer of the name was Delmar Daves, an American film director and screenwriter best known for his work in the Western genre. He was born in 1904 and directed classics such as Broken Arrow and 3:10 to Yuma.
Delmar Fadden, an American football player and coach, was born in 1914 and played for the Chicago Cardinals in the National Football League.
While not a widespread name, Delmar has been used sporadically throughout history, carrying the essence of its Old English origins and a connection to natural landscapes.
People
Delmar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delmar 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
Delmar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delmar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,177 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delmar 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 66,207 US residents.
Is Delmar a common name?
We classify Delmar as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,361 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delmar most popular?
The single biggest year for Delmar was 1927, when 360 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delmar is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delmar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,572 people with the name Delmar, or 1.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,659 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 Delmar 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 Delmar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delmar leans strongly male. 5,457 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 112 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Delmar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delmar is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.3%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Delmar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Delmar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.0% (4,011 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 Delmar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delmar a male name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Delmar 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 Delmar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delmar 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 Delmar 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 Delmar as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Delmar, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.