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Desire

#2,244 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Desire has been given to 5,468 babies in the U.S. since 1955. In 2025 it ranked #2,244 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2008, with 164 recorded.

Babies named Desire, 2025

1 in 40,400

Desire over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Desire: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Desire means

Desire is a given name.

The naming story behind Desire

Wikidata records Desire as a given name. The entity identifier is Q86591670, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,336 girls were recorded with the name Desire between 1955 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 164 in 2008; its best national rank was #1,174 in 1992.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,054 in 2020 to #2,244 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,564 in 2015 to #2,244 in 2025.

In the United States, 132 boys were recorded with the name Desire between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 14 in 2023; its best national rank was #2,677 in 1915.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #7,144 in 2020 to #6,542 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Desire?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 40,400
82 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 19,600
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,244
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
28,024 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Desire sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 28,024 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Desire. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Desires were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Desire was born before 2000 — so the typical Desire is around 25 today.

Median birth year
2000
About 25 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
25.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
49.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,336
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 25.0% of all recorded uses (1,334).

Is Desire rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−61
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−190
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+320
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.17×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
50.0%
Peak was 2008 (164)
Years since peak
17
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,174
1992

Spellings of Desire

Desire is not the most common spelling — Denise is, with 70.1% against Desire's 1.0%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Desire is used

Across 2016–2025, Desire was most concentrated in Illinois — about 1 in 7,143 girls, against 1 in 18,411 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

114 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Illinois1 in 7,143
  2. 2Georgia1 in 9,091
  3. 3Ohio1 in 9,091
  4. 4Florida1 in 12,500
  5. 5New York1 in 12,500
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 16,667
  7. 7Maryland1 in 20,000
  8. 8Michigan1 in 20,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Desire around the world

Where Desire ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2000–2025
    #3,035
    in 2025
  • France
    1904–2023
    #6,265
    in 2023
  • Canada
    1992–2023
    #2,973
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1959–1968
    #679
    in 1968

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Desire

People whose public names include Desire, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Desire by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,244
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 190
Best rank ever
#1,174
1992
Peak year
2008
164 that year
First recorded
1955
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,336
Count in 2025
82

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,542
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 602
Best rank ever
#2,677
1915
Peak year
2023
14 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
132
Count in 2025
13

Names similar to Desire

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DessieDestiniBlaireDesiraeDessaDesaraeDestineyDestenyDestinDespinaDeseraeDessireKlaireDestanyDestineeSapphireDezireDesireaDesirayDesiZyaireZaireDestinieDeseree

Names with a curve like Desire

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Desire, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

StefanyEvanShaeAcaciaMahoganyDanaeKayceeAnastaciaAshaCalliFlorIlana

Sibling names for Desire

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Desire

Top names of 2008, Desire's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1992Girls' names starting with D