Desta

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Desita in PH Philippines.

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 in 1 language 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◐

Desta is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name12K records spelled Desta7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, South Africa

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written D'Esta, Deşta

• Indonesian given name6.4K records spelled Desta3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Ethiopia, Malaysia

  Also written 'Desta, Desta'

• Spanish given name1.4K records spelled Desta5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ethiopia, Colombia, Philippines

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Dëŝtä, Déstā, Destà

• French given name488 records spelled Desta2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Ethiopia, United States, South Africa

  Also written Désta

44 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●

Desta 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 Amharic, Amharic: joy, happiness

  as a name·African Names

• joy, happiness.

  as a name·African Names

• Happiness.

  as a name·The African book of names

• Juramento

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In Portuguese, contraction of de esta (“of/from this (feminine)”): feminine singular of deste

  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●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 52 years between 1900–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Desta Marb. 1924FRdancer
• Desta FekedulegnUSstatistician at NIOSH

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 · 126 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Desta?

We estimate roughly 599 people bear Desta (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Desta have the most bearers?

Desta is most frequently recorded in Ethiopia, where it is most often spelled desta.

How common is Desta compared with other names?

In Ethiopia, Desta is the 5th most common given name of 35,068 given names recorded there.

Is Desta a male or female name?

Desta is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Desta mean?

Recorded meaning: Jina (N)