Entry № 2396 · Hebrew origin

Delilah Delilah — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ deh-LIE-lah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Hebrew
Meaning
"Delicate; she who weakens"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Ancient (Hebrew Bible)

A name that means "delicate; she who weakens".

Delilah comes from the Hebrew Delīlāh (דְּלִילָה), meaning "delicate," "languishing," or — by folk etymology — "she who weakens." In the Book of Judges, Delilah is the Philistine woman who betrayed Samson by cutting his hair.

Despite the biblical association, Delilah has been used as a girl's name for centuries, particularly in the African American community. Today it sits in the U.S.

Delicate. The Hebrew word, reclaimed.

The name in its native script.

דְּלִילָה
Transliteration
Delīlāh
Pronunciation
/ dɪˈlaɪ.lə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Delilah stands.

Delilah does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Delilahs before her.

Real people
Delilah
American radio personality.
born 1960
In fiction
Delilah
Philistine woman in the Book of Judges.
Hebrew Bible
Delilah
Subject of Tom Jones's 1968 song.
1968 song

Names connected to Delilah.

The number behind Delilah.

6

The Nurturer

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Delilah reduce to 6, The Nurturer. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.