Delsie
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the valley of the princess."
Name Census estimates that about 350 living Americans carry the first name Delsie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Delsie today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delsie births was 1920 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delsie. 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 Delsie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
350
~ 1 in 979,298 Americans
Peak year
1920
40 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,863
Tracked since 1884
Census
Delsie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 585 people with the first name Delsie, which placed it at #18,434 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
#18,434
National first-name rank
People counted
585
585 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Delsie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delsie is White at 64.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Delsie 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 Delsie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.1% · 375
- Black or African American20.7% · 121
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 55
- Two or more races2.7% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 7
Popularity
Delsie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delsie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 356 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
Delsie 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 Delsie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Delsies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Delsie, while Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Delsie
The given name Delsie is an English name of uncertain origin, with various theories proposed to explain its meaning and etymology. One possibility is that it derives from the Old English word 'dell', meaning a small valley or hollow, suggesting a connection to nature or a particular geographic location.
Another theory traces Delsie's roots to the French name 'Delphine', which itself comes from the Greek word 'delphinos', meaning dolphin. This association with the marine mammal could imply grace, intelligence, or a playful spirit attributed to those bearing the name.
Some scholars also link Delsie to the Germanic name 'Adalheidis', which translates to "noble kind" or "noble in kind". This connection would imbue the name with a sense of nobility and virtue.
Historically, the name Delsie does not appear to have any significant references in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. However, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this name throughout the centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Delsie is Delsie Holcombe (1858-1940), an American educator and social reformer from Virginia. She was a pioneering figure in the field of vocational education and helped establish the first public trade school for girls in the United States.
Another notable Delsie was Delsie Eloise Hollowell (1898-1988), a American artist and educator from Virginia. She is renowned for her paintings and woodcuts depicting rural life and landscapes in the southern United States.
In the realm of literature, Delsie Holton (1905-1962) was an American novelist and short story writer known for her works exploring themes of love, loss, and the human condition. Her most celebrated novel, "The Bright Pavilion", was published in 1946.
Delsie Jean Worthen (1920-2012) was a Canadian artist and painter whose vibrant works captured the beauty of the Canadian landscape and its people. She was particularly renowned for her depictions of the Inuit communities of the Arctic region.
Lastly, Delsie Riley (1927-2018) was an American singer and actress who gained fame as a Broadway performer in the 1950s and 1960s. She starred in several notable productions, including the original Broadway cast of "The Pajama Game" in 1954.
While the name Delsie may have obscure origins, these individuals have left an indelible mark on various fields, from education and art to literature and entertainment, ensuring that the name continues to resonate through their remarkable contributions.
People
Delsie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delsie 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
Delsie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delsie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 350 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delsie 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 979,298 US residents.
Is Delsie a common name?
We classify Delsie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,438 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delsie most popular?
The single biggest year for Delsie was 1920, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delsie 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 Delsie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 585 people with the name Delsie, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,434 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 Delsie 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 Delsie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Delsie leans strongly female. 577 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 8 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Delsie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Delsie is White at 64.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Delsie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Delsie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.1% (375 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 Delsie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Delsie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Delsie 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 Delsie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Delsie 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 Delsie 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 common is the name Delsie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.