Del

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Dël in DO Dominican Republic.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 7 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◐

Del is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name619K records spelled Del42 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Peru, Australia

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Dël, 'Del, Dél, Del', Dêl

• a separate given name125K records spelled Del8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ecuador, United States, Spain, India

  Also written Dêl, D'El, Dél, Del', Dël

• Chinese given name38K records spelled Del3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States, Peru, Ecuador

  Also written De-L, Dél

• Indonesian given name24K records spelled Del6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Peru, Spain, United States, Indonesia

  Also written Dêl, Dèl, Ďéľ, Ďèl, Dël

• Arabic given name15K records spelled Del8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Peru, United States, Algeria

  Also written Dël, Dêl, Dél, Dèl, Dęl

114 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●

Del 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 Spanish, of the, from the (+ a masculine noun in singular).

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

• In Swedish, Del kan ursprungligen vara en engelsk smekform till mansnamnet Derek. Del kan också felaktigt ha kommit att registreras som ett förnamn, då det även uppträder som del av sammansatta namn, t.ex. i efternamnet Del Pilar och i det sammansatta förnamnet Maria del Carmen. Namnet förekommer mycket sällan som tilltalsnamn i Sverige men finns med ett par tusen bärare, främst kvinnor, som sidoförnamn.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Swahili, short form used from Adil

  as a name·African Muslim Names

• English: colloquial pet form of DEREK , with alteration of the exposed - r of the short form to - l (cf. SAL and TEL ).

  as a word

• In xgn-pro, mane, crest

  as a word·StarLing Tower of Babel etymological databases (Starostin et al.)

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●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 117 years between 1909–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Del Lordb. 1894CACanadian film director (1894-1970)
• Del Andrewsb. 1894USHollywood writer and director (1894-1942)
• Del Connellb. 1918USAmerican comics artist and screenwriter
• Del Woodb. 1920USCounty music pianist (1920-1989)
• Del Newmanb. 1930GBBritish musician
• Del Reevesb. 1932USAmerican singer (1932–2007)
• Del Closeb. 1934USactor, writer, teacher (1934-1999)
• Del Henneyb. 1935GBEnglish actor (1935-2019)
• Del Harrisb. 1937USAmerican basketball coach
• Del Synnottb. 1977IEBritish actor

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 · 403 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Del?

We estimate roughly 7.0 thousand people bear Del (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Del have the most bearers?

Del is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled del.

How common is Del compared with other names?

In Argentina, Del is the 10th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Del a male or female name?

Del is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Del mean?

Recorded meaning: British colloquial pet form of Derek, with alteration of the exposed -r of the short form to -] (compare pSal and pTel).