Humanverse

Delilah vs Dellene

American parents have registered 66,683 Delilahs since 1880, against 92 Dellenes. Delilah is still ahead, with 4,137 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Delilah against Dellene, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Delilah Dellene

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Delilah has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1937, when Delilah had 55 and Dellene had 17.

Side by side

  Delilah Dellene
Total US births 66,68392
Most in one year 4,25417
Babies in 2025 4,137under 5
Estimated living today 63,00050
Median age today 871
Peak year 20241936
Best rank 50th girls1,873rd girls
Rank in 2025 51stunranked
First recorded 18801936
Girls / boys 66,683 / 092 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Dellenes alive today are over 71; half the Delilahs are over 8. That is 63 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Delilah and Dellene.