Della
Della was given to 533 girls in 2025, #563 among girls’ names; 70,949 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 22,600 Americans named Della and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (32% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 30 and 76.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Della by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Della mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Della is “a female given name originating as a coinage.”
Possibly a variant of Adela or Delia. First appeared in the 19th century.
/ˈdɛlə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Della?
#563 among girls’ names, 2025
Della rose from #1,156 in 2015 to #563 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.12 to 0.33 per 1,000.
1,198 babies in 1917, the peak
Della peaked in 1917, when 1,198 babies were given it (1,192 girls, #168 among girls’ names). The 533 births of 2025 are 44% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 533 | #563 | 0.33 |
| 2024 | 520 | #580 | 0.32 |
| 2023 | 453 | #645 | 0.28 |
| 2022 | 449 | #660 | 0.27 |
| 2021 | 405 | #710 | 0.25 |
| 2020 | 284 | #916 | 0.18 |
| 2019 | 339 | #808 | 0.20 |
| 2018 | 314 | #864 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 252 | #1,028 | 0.15 |
| 2016 | 248 | #1,052 | 0.14 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 218 | #1,156 | 0.12 |
| 2014 | 194 | #1,249 | 0.11 |
| 2013 | 164 | #1,400 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 174 | #1,348 | 0.10 |
| 2011 | 120 | #1,724 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 133 | #1,625 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 115 | #1,852 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 77 | #2,469 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 68 | #2,690 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 87 | #2,211 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 78 | #2,298 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 75 | #2,310 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 68 | #2,416 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 62 | #2,527 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 44 | #3,150 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 45 | #3,080 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 50 | #2,748 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 37 | #3,312 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 42 | #2,890 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 54 | #2,400 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 53 | #2,422 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 57 | #2,293 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 49 | #2,539 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 59 | #2,243 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 55 | #2,320 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 56 | #2,259 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 79 | #1,716 | 0.04 |
| 1988 | 64 | #1,912 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 62 | #1,862 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 84 | #1,487 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 59 | #1,887 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 74 | #1,540 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 90 | #1,331 | 0.05 |
| 1982 | 96 | #1,310 | 0.06 |
| 1981 | 98 | #1,294 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 108 | #1,221 | 0.07 |
| 1979 | 115 | #1,156 | 0.07 |
| 1978 | 119 | #1,098 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 180 | #832 | 0.12 |
| 1976 | 145 | #908 | 0.10 |
| 1975 | 165 | #824 | 0.11 |
| 1974 | 165 | #816 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 173 | #775 | 0.12 |
| 1972 | 204 | #708 | 0.13 |
| 1971 | 247 | #656 | 0.15 |
| 1970 | 291 | #599 | 0.17 |
| 1969 | 291 | #579 | 0.17 |
| 1968 | 324 | #529 | 0.20 |
| 1967 | 326 | #523 | 0.20 |
| 1966 | 369 | #487 | 0.22 |
| 1965 | 389 | #482 | 0.22 |
| 1964 | 469 | #454 | 0.25 |
| 1963 | 535 | #418 | 0.28 |
| 1962 | 520 | #427 | 0.26 |
| 1961 | 615 | #389 | 0.30 |
| 1960 | 745 | #353 | 0.37 |
| 1959 | 676 | #366 | 0.33 |
| 1958 | 663 | #359 | 0.33 |
| 1957 | 538 | #394 | 0.26 |
| 1956 | 542 | #383 | 0.27 |
| 1955 | 590 | #359 | 0.30 |
| 1954 | 591 | #353 | 0.30 |
| 1953 | 550 | #362 | 0.29 |
| 1952 | 614 | #333 | 0.33 |
| 1951 | 654 | #308 | 0.36 |
| 1950 | 620 | #312 | 0.36 |
| 1949 | 574 | #324 | 0.34 |
| 1948 | 611 | #311 | 0.36 |
| 1947 | 732 | #286 | 0.41 |
| 1946 | 588 | #305 | 0.37 |
| 1945 | 532 | #297 | 0.41 |
| 1944 | 635 | #276 | 0.48 |
| 1943 | 682 | #269 | 0.49 |
| 1942 | 681 | #262 | 0.50 |
| 1941 | 673 | #250 | 0.56 |
| 1940 | 650 | #248 | 0.57 |
| 1939 | 680 | #238 | 0.62 |
| 1938 | 748 | #223 | 0.68 |
| 1937 | 787 | #213 | 0.74 |
| 1936 | 721 | #225 | 0.69 |
| 1935 | 774 | #220 | 0.74 |
| 1934 | 796 | #220 | 0.76 |
| 1933 | 850 | #206 | 0.84 |
| 1932 | 844 | #213 | 0.79 |
| 1931 | 863 | #210 | 0.81 |
| 1930 | 887 | #207 | 0.79 |
| 1929 | 866 | #211 | 0.78 |
| 1928 | 897 | #209 | 0.78 |
| 1927 | 946 | #208 | 0.79 |
| 1926 | 1,009 | #196 | 0.85 |
| 1925 | 1,028 | #198 | 0.84 |
| 1924 | 1,050 | #200 | 0.84 |
| 1923 | 1,125 | #192 | 0.93 |
| 1922 | 1,155 | #185 | 1.0 |
| 1921 | 1,153 | #187 | 0.94 |
| 1920 | 1,137 | #183 | 0.95 |
| 1919 | 1,190 | #175 | 1.1 |
| 1918 | 1,162 | #177 | 1.0 |
| 1917 | 1,192 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1916 | 1,172 | #165 | 1.1 |
| 1915 | 1,086 | #169 | 1.1 |
| 1914 | 879 | #165 | 1.2 |
| 1913 | 789 | #151 | 1.3 |
| 1912 | 733 | #148 | 1.3 |
| 1911 | 645 | #130 | 1.5 |
| 1910 | 602 | #137 | 1.5 |
| 1909 | 568 | #125 | 1.6 |
| 1908 | 549 | #123 | 1.6 |
| 1907 | 582 | #113 | 1.8 |
| 1906 | 557 | #112 | 1.9 |
| 1905 | 593 | #109 | 2.0 |
| 1904 | 607 | #102 | 2.2 |
| 1903 | 611 | #96 | 2.3 |
| 1902 | 609 | #96 | 2.3 |
| 1901 | 534 | #100 | 2.2 |
| 1900 | 748 | #90 | 2.5 |
| 1899 | 595 | #91 | 2.6 |
| 1898 | 656 | #91 | 2.5 |
| 1897 | 624 | #87 | 2.7 |
| 1896 | 642 | #85 | 2.7 |
| 1895 | 648 | #86 | 2.8 |
| 1894 | 681 | #77 | 3.1 |
| 1893 | 660 | #76 | 3.1 |
| 1892 | 666 | #76 | 3.1 |
| 1891 | 607 | #74 | 3.3 |
| 1890 | 631 | #72 | 3.3 |
| 1889 | 606 | #72 | 3.4 |
| 1888 | 621 | #71 | 3.5 |
| 1887 | 496 | #74 | 3.4 |
| 1886 | 565 | #67 | 3.9 |
| 1885 | 500 | #71 | 3.8 |
| 1884 | 541 | #65 | 4.2 |
| 1883 | 453 | #66 | 4.0 |
| 1882 | 447 | #66 | 4.1 |
| 1881 | 428 | #60 | 4.7 |
| 1880 | 391 | #66 | 4.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Della a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Della has been given almost only to girls: 139 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Della: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Della, and how old are they?
22,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 32% of the 70,949 Americans ever recorded as Della. The median Della alive today is 65 years old; half are between 30 and 76.
The 2020 Census counted 20,486 people named Della (20,433 women and girls, 53 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 24,055 born in the U.S. The Census count is 15% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3,720 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8,820 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,320 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,060 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,260 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,350 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Della born?
The states with the most babies named Della are Texas, Kentucky and North Carolina, with 19% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kentucky is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 3,267 | #1,282 | 1.0× |
| Kentucky | 3,139 | #677 | 2.5× |
| North Carolina | 2,800 | #518 | 1.6× |
| California | 2,324 | #916 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,199 | #563 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 2,116 | #417 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 2,094 | #397 | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 2,034 | #630 | 0.7× |
| Virginia | 1,823 | #442 | 1.3× |
| Missouri | 1,806 | #301 | 1.3× |
Where Della is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Della is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 2.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Della with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 182,833 babies since 1880, Della is the most given (39% of them). In 2025 it was given to 533 of their 4,953 babies (11%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Della
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Della and names like it
- Compare Della and DelilahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sDella peaked in 1917.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Della since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Della: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Della.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Della alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.