Abbreviations · card D

Del.

In a census birthplace column, Del. is the abbreviation for Delaware.

Del. is an older abbreviation of Delaware, used long before the two letter postal codes. Census takers were allowed to abbreviate state names in the place of birth column, so abbreviated state names are common in the birthplace column of nineteenth century census pages.

Del. is the standard nineteenth century form. In other contexts Del. can mean delegate, but in the birthplace column it is the state.

As seen in a recordBirthplace column of the 1860 census
Ann Ross, 28, Del.
How to cite this page

Daily Ancestor. "Del.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/de. Last checked 2026-10-01.

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