Dale
A masculine name of English origin meaning "valley" or "vale".
Name Census estimates that about 184,095 living Americans carry the first name Dale. It is a predominantly male name (92.7% of registrations). The average person named Dale today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dale births was 1958 (9,088 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dale. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Dale with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Dale have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
184K
~ 1 in 1,862 Americans
Peak year
1958
9,088 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,306
Tracked since 1881
Census
Dale in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 188,896 people with the first name Dale, which placed it at #296 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#296
National first-name rank
People counted
189K
188,896 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
62.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dale
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dale is White at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Dale described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Dale at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.9% · 169,897
- Black or African American4.7% · 8,795
- Two or more races2.3% · 4,255
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 2,597
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 1,873
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1,479
Gender
Gender distribution for Dale
Dale leans heavily male at 92.7% of total registrations, but 21,882 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dale as a male name
- Ranked #1,306 in 2024
- 149 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1958 (8,503 births)
Dale as a female name
- Ranked #15,719 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1952 (1,108 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dale leans strongly male. 172,981 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 15,912 female bearers (8.4%).
Popularity
Dale: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dale from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 84,208 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dale by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Dale during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dales live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Ohio, Michigan, California recorded the most babies named Dale, while Nevada, Alaska, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,724 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dale
The name Dale has its origins in the Old English word "dæl," which means "valley" or "vale." It was initially used as a topographic surname, referring to individuals who lived in or near a valley. This name can be traced back to the 12th century in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dale can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive record of landowners and tenants in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appeared in various spellings, such as "de la Dale" and "atte Dale," indicating its topographic nature.
In the Middle Ages, Dale was primarily a surname, but it gradually transitioned into a given name. This transition was likely influenced by the growing popularity of using descriptive place names as personal names during that period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Dale. One of the earliest recorded was Dale Abbey, a Premonstratensian monastery founded in Derbyshire, England, in the 12th century. The monastery's name was derived from its location in a valley.
In literature, the name Dale appeared in Sir Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe," published in 1819. One of the main characters, Cedric the Saxon, had a son named Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who was also known as Wilfred of the Dale.
Another prominent figure with the name Dale was Sir Thomas Dale, an English naval officer and colonial administrator who played a significant role in the early settlement of Virginia in the 17th century. He served as the Deputy Governor of Virginia from 1611 to 1616 and is credited with establishing discipline and order in the colony.
In the 20th century, Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) was an influential American writer and lecturer, best known for his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," which became a best-seller and remains popular to this day.
The name Dale also gained popularity in the world of sports. Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001) was a legendary American professional stock car racing driver who won numerous NASCAR championships and is considered one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport.
Another notable individual with the name Dale was Dale Chihuly (born 1941), an American glass sculptor and entrepreneur. His innovative and vibrant glass sculptures have been exhibited worldwide, and he is recognized as one of the most influential artists working in glass.
These examples illustrate the rich history and diverse backgrounds of individuals who have borne the name Dale, spanning various fields, from literature and colonial administration to sports and art.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dale
People
Dale + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dale as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dale: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dale?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 184,095 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dale going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,862 US residents.
Is Dale a common name?
We classify Dale as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 299,900 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dale most popular?
The single biggest year for Dale was 1958, when 9,088 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dale is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dale in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 188,896 people with the name Dale, or 62.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #296 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Dale in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Dale?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dale leans strongly male. 172,981 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 15,912 female bearers (8.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Dale?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dale is White at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Dale most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dale in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.9% (169,897 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Dale in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dale a male name?
Yes, 92.7% of people registered as Dale in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Dale still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dale in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Dale can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Dale?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.