Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (

hypocorism A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek ; sometimes also ''hypocoristic''), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for Isabel or ''Bob (given name), Bob'' fo ...

) of Desmond. People named Des include:

People

Des Buckingham Des Buckingham (born 7 February 1985) is an English professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of club Oxford United. Buckingham became the youngest head coach in the history of the A-League during the 2016–17 A- ...

, English football manager *

Des Corcoran James Desmond Corcoran (8 November 1928 – 3 January 2004) was an Australian politician who served as the 37th premier of South Australia between February and September 1979, following the resignation of Don Dunstan. During his brief premier ...

, (1928–2004), Australian politician *

Des Dillon (disambiguation) Des Dillon may refer to: * Des Dillon (hurler) (1926–1964), Irish hurler and handballer * Des Dillon (rugby union) (born 1980), Irish rugby union footballer * Des Dillon (writer) (born 1960), Scottish writer {{hndis, Dillon, Des ...

, several people *

Des Hasler Desmond John Hasler (born 16 February 1961) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League and a former player. Primarily a , he initially played for the Penrith Pan ...

(born 1961), Australian rugby league player-coach * Desmond Des Kelly (born 1965), British journalist * Desmond

Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, pr ...

(born 1942), British television presenter * Desmond

Des Lyttle Desmond Lyttle (born 24 September 1971) is an English former football player and manager. He started his career with Leicester City but dropped into non-League football with Worcester City in 1991. A good season earned him a move to Welsh side ...

(born 1971), English footballer * Des McLean, Scottish stand-up comedian, actor and presenter * Desmond

Des O'Connor Desmond Bernard O'Connor (12 January 1932 – 14 November 2020) was an English comedian, singer and television presenter. He was a long-time TV chat-show host, beginning with '' The Des O'Connor Show'' in 1963, which ran for ten years as we ...

(1932–2020), British entertainer *

, Australian rugby league player in the 1970s * Desmond

Des O'Grady James Desmond O'Grady (1952 – 8 January 2025) was an Irish Gaelic footballer who played as a left wing-back at senior level for the Cork county football team, Cork county team. Career Born in Togher, Cork, Togher, Cork (city), Cork, O'Grady ...

(born 1953), Irish retired Gaelic footballer * Des O'Hagan (1934–2015), Irish communist *

Desmond O'Malley Desmond Joseph O'Malley (2 February 1939 – 21 July 2021) was an Irish politician who served as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1977 to 1981 and 1989 to 1992, Progressive Democrats, Leader ...

(1939–2021), Irish politician, government minister and founder and leader of the Progressive Democrats * Desmond Des O'Neil (1920–1999), Australian politician *

Des O'Reilly Des O'Reilly (19 November 1954 – 7 March 2016) was an Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-conta ...

(1954–2016), Australian rugby league player *

Desmond Smith (general) Major-General James Desmond Blaise "Des" Smith, CBE, DSO, KStJ, CD (2 October 1911 – 11 October 1991) was a senior Canadian Army officer active in World War II, fighting in the Italian Campaign and Northwest Europe. Early life and militar ...

(1911–1991), Canadian major-general *

Des Smith (headteacher) Desmond Des P Smith MA, BA, ACDip was, until his retirement in July 2006, the headteacher at All Saints Catholic School and Technology College, Dagenham, England. Smith attracted media attention by making the indiscreet remarks that triggered t ...

, British headteacher embroiled in the Cash for Honours scandal *

Des Smith (ice hockey) Des or Desmond Smith may refer to: * Desmond Smith (Canadian Army officer) (1911–1991), Canadian major-general * Des Smith (headteacher), British headteacher * Des Smith (ice hockey) (1914–1981), Canadian ice hockey defenceman See also * Des Sm ...

(1914–1981), Canadian ice hockey defenceman * Desmond Sinclair

Des Walker Desmond Sinclair Walker (born 26 November 1965) is an English football coach and former player who played as a defender. At club level he played in seven cup finals for Nottingham Forest at Wembley, winning five of them. He was Forest's play ...

(born 1965), English international footballer

Fictional characters

* Desmond

Des Barnes Des Barnes is a fictional character from the English ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Philip Middlemiss. Storylines Des was deeply in love with Steph Jones ( Amelia Bullmore), but she did not seem to care as deeply for hi ...

, in the British soap opera ''Coronation Street'' * Desmond

Des Clarke (Neighbours) Des Clarke is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Paul Keane. Des was created by Reg Watson as one of ''Neighbours twelve original characters. He made his first on screen appearance on 18 March 198 ...

, in the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' * Desmond

Des Tiny Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), sev ...

, in the book series ''The Saga of Darren Shan''