Dessa vs Destinee
American parents have registered 16,800 Destinees since 1880, against 1,817 Dessas. Destinee is still ahead, with 54 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Dessa Destinee
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 143 years in which either name was published, Dessa for 95 years and Destinee for 48 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.
Side by side
| Dessa | Destinee | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,817 | 16,800 |
| Most in one year | 31 | 1,002 |
| Babies in 2025 | 16 | 54 |
| Estimated living today | 1,100 | 17,000 |
| Median age today | 36 | 25 |
| Peak year | 2001 | 1999 |
| Best rank | 4,025th girls | 308th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 6,838th | 3,028th |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1973 |
| Girls / boys | 1,817 / 0 | 16,800 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Dessas alive today are over 36; half the Destinees are over 25. That is 11 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Dessa and Destinee.