MEANING & HISTORY
What does Dempsey mean?
Nameberry documents Dempsey as a given name transferred from an Irish surname. The surname account traces it to Ó Díomasaigh, a descendant construction based on the personal name Díomasach, associated with pride or haughtiness.
The historical surname structure should be kept distinct from a claim about the temperament or ancestry of someone named Dempsey.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
A dictionary pronunciation or syllable division has not been verified for this exact spelling. Use the synthetic reading as a starting point and confirm the intended pronunciation with the family.
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
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 ↗THE RECORDED SPELLING
Find Dempsey in the sources
Public-record evidence
OpenHalalan · COMELEC · 2001
Given-name field in the source
DEMPSEYCSV record 3,238 (header counted as record 1)
The source transcribes elected-candidate lists. The record number locates the quoted given-name field.
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Dempsey 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 →
Similar names to Dempsey
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
- Denise♀Feminine form of Denis; related to Dionysus
- Ramsey♂Garlic island in the English place-name account
- Aleksey♂Russian Alexius, from the Greek defending-name family
- Casey♂♀From Ó Cathasaigh, descendant of the vigilant-name family
- Debbie·Bee, through Deborah
- Denden♂Repeated familiar form of Dennis or Densio
- Denis·Name derived from Dionysus
- Denisa·Feminine name in the Dionysus name family
What rhymes with Dempsey?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Dempsey 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.
- Nameberry — Dempsey (opens in a new tab)
Named editorial account of surname-to-given-name use.
- Behind the Name — surname Dempsey (opens in a new tab)
Irish Ó Díomasaigh, descendant of Díomasach.