In this work, Galerkin approximations are developed for a system of n first order nonlinear delay differential equations (DDEs) and also for an nth order nonlinear scalar DDE. The DDEs are converted into an equivalent system of partial differential equations of the same order along with the nonlinear boundary constraints. Lagrange multipliers are then introduced and explicit expressions for the Lagrange multipliers are derived to enforce the nonlinear boundary constraints. To illustrate the method, comparisons are made between the numerical solution of nonlinear DDEs and its Galerkin approximations for different parameter values. © 2012 American Society of Mechanical Engineers.