MEANING & HISTORY
What does Delfin mean?
Delfin is explicitly recorded as a Tagalog borrowing of Spanish Delfín. The saved dictionary links it with the Spanish dolphin word.
A separate onomastic chain leads through Delphinus and Delphina to Delphi. These are distinct accounts of the older family, not grounds for one universal ocean-prince translation. The exact local borrowing is clearer than the competing remote analyses.
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /delˈfin/Standard-Tagalog
- [d̪ɛlˈfɪn̪]Standard-Tagalog
- /delˈpin/with nativization
- [d̪ɛlˈpɪn̪]with nativization
Del · fin2 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from Spanish Delfín, from delfín, a learned borrowing from Latin delphīnem, from delphīnus, borrowed from Ancient Greek δελφίς (delphís), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelbʰ-.
a male given name from Spanish
Wiktionary: Delfin (Tagalog) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Delfin
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Delfin Castro
Philippine Army General (1925-2020)
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Delfin Ganapin, Jr.
Filipino environmentalist
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
19
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
6
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Delfin Castro, Delfin Ganapin, Jr.
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Delfin in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Related forms & spellings
Related forms may have their own language histories. They are not included in this spelling’s PSA count.
Similar names to Delfin
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Delfina♀Form of Delphina; of Delphi
- Delia♀Of Delos
- Deling♀Familiar form of Delia or Cordelia
- Delio♂Cebuano short form of Rodelio
- Devin·Surname-derived, with Irish and French routes
- Dean♂Surname-name with valley and church-office routes
- Debbie·Bee, through Deborah
- Del·Familiar form of Derek
What rhymes with Delfin?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Delfin further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q11693817 — Delfin (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Delfin Castro (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q11693817 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Delfin Ganapin, Jr. (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q11693817 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Delfin (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Behind the Name — Delfín (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.
- Behind the Name — Delphina (opens in a new tab)
Actually consulted explicitly linked base-name account; relevant formation or root sense, separate from individual family intention.
- Behind the Name — Delphinus (opens in a new tab)
Actual name account gives masculine Delphina relationship, whose account interprets the name through Delphi; this is distinct from the saved dolphin-word account.