Dei

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Doe in US United States, GB United Kingdom, PH Philippines and 13 more, Delphine in FR France, BE Belgium, KE Kenya and 4 more, Do in BR Brazil and เดอ in TH Thailand.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 12 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Dei is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English surname13K records spelled Dei13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Germany, United Kingdom

  Languages: English, Swedish, German

  Also written Déi, Déî, Deï

• Spanish surname8.4K records spelled Dei12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Argentina, Brazil, Italy

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Dêî, Dēí, Deì, Dèí, Deí

• French surname1.7K records spelled Dei10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, India, United States, Italy

  Also written Deï, Dëï, Dèï, Dëi, Dëì

• a separate surname1.2K records spelled Dei2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Italy, United Kingdom

  Also written Deĭ

• Russian surname855 records spelled Dei70 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, United States, Poland

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish

  Also written Дей, Day, Dey, Дэй, Деж

• Polish surname183 records spelled Dei2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, India, Italy

  Also written Deï

40 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Dei is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Russian, "existence."

  as a word·A Dictionary of Period Russian Names (Wickenden / Goldschmidt 1996)

• In English, Alternative spelling of dey (“informal term of address used when trying to get someone's attention.”).

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Norwegian Nynorsk, the (plural form of den and det, usually used in front of adjectives modifying plural nouns)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In bar, thy, your (informal; to friends, relatives, children, etc.)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Galician, first-person singular preterite indicative of dar

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 79 years between 1917–1998. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Benedetto Deib. 1418FRItalian historian
• Diana Deib. 1914ITItalian actress (1914–1999)
• Marcello Deib. 1935ITsociologist, historian of pedagogy (1935-)
• Gianni Deib. 1940ITItalian actor (1940–2020)
• Luigi Deib. 1956ITItalian chemist (born 1956)
• Fabio Deib. 1956ITItalian anthropologist (born 1956)
• Davide Deib. 1970Italian literary scholar (1970-)
• Emiliano Deib. 1971ITItalian footballer
• David Deib. 1974ITItalian footballer
• Adora Deiactress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 199 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Dei?

We estimate roughly 37 thousand people bear Dei (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Dei have the most bearers?

We estimate about 30 thousand people bear Dei in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled doe.

How common is Dei compared with other names?

In Morocco, Dei is the 29th most common surname of 210,764 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Dei mean?

Recorded meaning: contração de de + i ('dos'); indica filiação ou pertença.