Given name & surname
De
“born to royalty”
De is used as a given name and a surname. One Vietnamese interpretation is “born to royalty.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Vietnamese interpretation is “born to royalty.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Vietnamese.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1914. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
De through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,322
- 681 boys · 641 girls
- Most popular year
- 1992
- 64 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 2011. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 46 in 1992. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,481 as a first name in 2020; 1,346 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
De’s family of names
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named De
- Zhu DeMarshal of the People's Republic of China (1886－1976)
- Gan De4th-century BC Chinese astronomer and astrologer400 BC–400 BC
- Wu DeChinese politician (1913-1995)
- De Scott EvansAmerican painter (1847-1898)
- Tong Tekonghistorian (1920–2009)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love De, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Dung
“a brave man; a heroic man”
62% boys · 38% girls
Tien
“a fairy child; a spirit” · “the first and foremost”
72% boys · 28% girls
Hien
“a meek and gentle woman” · “a gentle and kind man”
48% boys · 52% girls
Tu
“one who is quick-minded”
73% boys · 27% girls
Ly
“a reasonable man”
30% boys · 70% girls
Hong
“a young girl with a rosy complexion” · “refers to the color red”
31% boys · 69% girls
Khanh
“resembling a precious stone”
70% boys · 30% girls
Lam
“having a full understanding”
75% boys · 25% girls