Destina
Of Latin origin, meaning "destined" or "fated".
Name Census estimates that about 159 living Americans carry the first name Destina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Destina today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Destina births was 2005 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Destina. 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 Destina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
159
~ 1 in 2,155,688 Americans
Peak year
2005
16 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2016 SSA rank
#16,927
Tracked since 1987
Census
Destina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 227 people with the first name Destina, which placed it at #35,437 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
#35,437
National first-name rank
People counted
227
227 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
45.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Destina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Destina is Hispanic at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and White (21.6%). 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 Destina 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 Destina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino45.8% · 104
- Black or African American22.0% · 50
- White21.6% · 49
- Two or more races4.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 5
Popularity
Destina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Destina from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 83 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Destina 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 Destina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Destina
The given name Destina is believed to have originated from the Latin language, with roots tracing back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "destinare," which means "to determine" or "to destine." The name carries a sense of purpose, destiny, and predetermination.
In ancient Roman culture, names with similar meanings were often bestowed upon individuals with the belief that they would fulfill a specific role or purpose in life. The name Destina may have been given to children with the hope that they would achieve greatness or contribute significantly to society.
While there are no direct mentions of the name Destina in ancient Roman texts or historical records, several variations and derivatives of the name can be found. For instance, the name Destinus was used as a masculine name during the Roman era, and Destinata was a feminine form.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Destina can be traced back to the 12th century. In 1187, a woman named Destina de Montfort was mentioned in a charter document from the region of Montfort-l'Amaury in France. This suggests that the name had spread beyond its Latin origins and was in use in parts of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Destina:
1. Destina Barzetti (1532-1594), an Italian painter known for her religious artworks and portraits of noble families in Renaissance Italy.
2. Destina von Fürstenberg (1618-1688), a German noblewoman and patron of the arts, who commissioned several significant architectural projects in her homeland.
3. Destina Alighieri (1723-1801), an Italian scholar and poet, known for her translations of ancient Greek texts and her contributions to the study of Dante Alighieri's works.
4. Destina Ramirez (1842-1910), a Mexican activist and educator who fought for women's rights and established several schools for underprivileged children in her country.
5. Destina Khalil (1920-2005), an Egyptian writer and journalist, renowned for her novels exploring social issues and the struggles of women in the Middle East.
These individuals, spanning various eras and regions, have contributed to the rich legacy and diversity associated with the name Destina throughout history.
People
Destina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Destina 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
Destina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Destina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 159 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Destina 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 2,155,688 US residents.
Is Destina a common name?
We classify Destina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 163 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Destina most popular?
The single biggest year for Destina was 2005, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Destina is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Destina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 227 people with the name Destina, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,437 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 Destina 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 Destina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Destina appears almost entirely female. Of the 218 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Destina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Destina is Hispanic at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and White (21.6%). 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 Destina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Destina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.8% (104 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 Destina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Destina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Destina 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 Destina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Destina 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 Destina 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 Destina?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.