Desire is an English word name that goes back to the Latin desiderare and means "longing" or "wish"; it is the plain English cousin of the French Désirée, "desired one". The Puritans used Desire as a virtue name in colonial New England, and one Desire Minter sailed on the Mayflower. In the United States the name ranked number 1398 in 2000, peaked at number 1387 in 2001 and has stayed at around number 2000 to 2200 for the past decade, standing at number 2244 in 2025.