Meaning of the nameDiego

Diego is a male name of Spanish origin, linked to the Latinized Iberian name Didacus, whose ultimate origin is uncertain.

Meaning

The meaning of Diego is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022): 403,169
Rank in Brazil: #68
Median age: 30 years
2010 Census: 424,428; people

Diego in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Diego, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1990s (150,446 people).

1,884 women 401,285 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Diego is most common

States with the highest share of people named Diego in the population, in the 2022 Census.

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	102,643	0.231%
Minas Gerais	41,263	0.201%
Rio de Janeiro	33,855	0.211%
Rio Grande do Sul	28,519	0.262%
Paraná	24,931	0.218%
Bahia	24,294	0.172%
Santa Catarina	18,631	0.245%
Pernambuco	14,898	0.165%
Pará	14,076	0.173%
Goiás	12,857	0.182%
Ceará	11,257	0.128%
Maranhão	10,078	0.149%
Amazonas	7,474	0.190%
Espírito Santo	7,027	0.183%
Mato Grosso	6,856	0.187%
Paraíba	6,572	0.165%
Mato Grosso do Sul	5,785	0.210%
Distrito Federal	5,577	0.198%
Rio Grande do Norte	4,496	0.136%
Piauí	4,443	0.136%
Alagoas	4,423	0.141%
Sergipe	4,099	0.186%
Rondônia	2,965	0.188%
Tocantins	2,222	0.147%
Amapá	1,412	0.192%
Acre	1,281	0.154%
Roraima	1,235	0.194%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Diego

Wiktionary describes Diego as a Spanish name coming from an Iberian name, the Latin Dīdacus, recorded since the eighth century and of unknown origin; proposals of Greek, Basque and Celtiberian origin are not generally accepted, and the link with Santiago is treated as folk etymology. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil) derives it from Didacus and associates that name with 'master, one who teaches', and Behind the Name mentions the suggestion of an origin in the Greek didache, 'teaching', and the possibility that it is a shortened form of Santiago. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 403,169 people named Diego, most of them born in the 1980s and 1990s, and the name is almost always male. Dyego is among the spelling variants listed by the dictionary.

It is the original Spanish spelling and the most recorded in the group.

Other spellings of Diego

Spelling	People (2022)
Diego	403,169
Dyego	2,124

Sources

Wiktionary: Diego · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Diego · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · origin
Behind the Name: Diego · behindthename.com · origin

Questions about the name Diego

What does the name Diego mean?

The meaning of Diego is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Diego in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 403,169 people with the first name Diego, which ranks it number 68 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1990s.

Is Diego a boy's or a girl's name?

Diego is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 1,884 women and 401,285 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Diego?

Diego is a name of Spanish origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Diego most common?

Proportionally, in Rio Grande do Sul: 0.262% of the state's population is named Diego (28,519 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Diego?

Dyego. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of Spanish origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Diego with a source. See the methodology.