Delon
French masculine name derived from a Celtic word meaning "great, illustrious".
Name Census estimates that about 1,290 living Americans carry the first name Delon. It is a predominantly male name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Delon today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delon births was 1993 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delon. 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 Delon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 265,701 Americans
Peak year
1993
40 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,332
Tracked since 1932
Census
Delon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,269 people with the first name Delon, which placed it at #10,480 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
#10,480
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,269 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delon is Black at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (22.0%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Delon 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 Delon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.8% · 809
- White22.0% · 279
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 66
- Two or more races5.0% · 63
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Delon
Delon leans heavily male at 97.3% of total registrations, but 38 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Delon as a male name
- Ranked #7,332 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (40 births)
Delon as a female name
- Ranked #15,020 in 1999
- 5 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1972 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delon leans strongly male. 1,170 people counted with this name were male (92.3%), compared with 97 female bearers (7.7%).
Popularity
Delon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delon from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 312 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
Delon 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 Delon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Delons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Michigan, California, New York recorded the most babies named Delon, while Illinois, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Delon
The given name Delon is a French name with uncertain origins, but it is believed to be derived from the Old French word "delé," meaning "beside" or "near." This name may have originated in the Middle Ages, possibly as a nickname or a locational surname referring to someone who lived near a particular landmark or location.
One theory suggests that the name Delon could be linked to the French town of Delon, which is located in the department of Gard in southern France. However, there is limited information available about the specific origins of this town name and its potential connection to the given name Delon.
Historically, the name Delon appears to have been relatively uncommon, with only a few notable individuals bearing this name throughout the centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Delon dates back to the 16th century, with a French nobleman named Delon de Courcelles (born around 1520), who served as a military commander during the French Wars of Religion.
In the 17th century, there was a French painter named Gaspard Delon (1635-1700), who was known for his works depicting religious subjects and portraits. Another notable figure with the name Delon was François Delon (1704-1782), a French architect and engineer who designed several notable buildings in Paris and other parts of France.
In more recent history, the most famous individual with the name Delon is undoubtedly the French actor Alain Delon (born 1935). He rose to international fame in the 1960s and 1970s for his roles in films such as "Rocco and His Brothers," "The Samurai," and "The Leopard." Delon's rugged good looks and iconic performances made him a cultural icon and one of the most recognizable French actors of his time.
Another notable figure with the name Delon was the French writer and journalist Michel Delon (1924-2013), who was known for his works on French literature and his contributions to literary criticism. He served as the director of the prestigious French publishing house Éditions de la Pléiade and was a member of the Académie française.
While the name Delon may have had a relatively obscure history, it has been brought to prominence in modern times by the success and fame of individuals like Alain Delon, who have helped to make this name more widely recognized and associated with French culture and artistic accomplishments.
People
Delon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delon 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
Delon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,290 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delon 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 265,701 US residents.
Is Delon a common name?
We classify Delon as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,399 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delon most popular?
The single biggest year for Delon was 1993, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delon is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Delon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,269 people with the name Delon, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,480 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 Delon 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 Delon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delon leans strongly male. 1,170 people counted with this name were male (92.3%), compared with 97 female bearers (7.7%). 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 Delon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delon is Black at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (22.0%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Delon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Delon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (809 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 Delon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delon a male name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Delon 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 Delon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delon 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 Delon 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 the name Delon?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.