Detta
Detta was last recorded in 1979, when 6 babies were given it; 203 Americans have been recorded with it between 1914 and 1979 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Detta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Detta?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #9,284, in 1979; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
15 babies in 1930, the peak
Detta peaked in 1930, when 15 girls were given it, #2,221 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 6 | #9,284 | 3.7 |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,413 | 4.1 |
| 1972 | 5 | #8,589 | 3.3 |
| 1971 | 5 | #8,656 | 3.0 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,512 | 4.0 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,142 | 5.3 |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,780 | 4.3 |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,701 | 5.5 |
| 1966 | 5 | #6,822 | 3.0 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,004 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (31)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | 5 | #6,838 | 2.6 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,031 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,433 | 3.5 |
| 1959 | 8 | #4,727 | 4.0 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,323 | 2.5 |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,296 | 2.4 |
| 1956 | 6 | #5,447 | 3.0 |
| 1955 | 7 | #4,847 | 3.6 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,287 | 3.1 |
| 1953 | 5 | #5,872 | 2.7 |
| 1949 | 6 | #4,802 | 3.5 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,651 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,362 | 4.8 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,565 | 4.7 |
| 1931 | 6 | #3,982 | 5.6 |
| 1930 | 15 | #2,221 | 13.3 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,771 | 9.9 |
| 1924 | 8 | #3,739 | 6.4 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,516 | 5.0 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,448 | 5.1 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,752 | 6.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Detta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Detta has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 31 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Detta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Detta, and how old are they?
An estimated 120 Americans named Detta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (59% of everyone recorded); the median is 63 years old and half are between 57 and 70. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 190 people named Detta (190 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 135 born in the U.S. The Census count is 41% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 2,416 babies since 1880, Detta is the fourth most given (8.4% of them).
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 Detta
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 Detta and names like it
- Compare Detta and DeettaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sDetta peaked in 1930.
- Nebraska’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Detta since 1910.
- The top names of 1930The year the most babies were named Detta.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Detta alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.