Dansby
A masculine given name of English origin meaning "from the Danish town".
Name Census estimates that about 208 living Americans carry the first name Dansby. It is a predominantly male name (94.3% of registrations). The average person named Dansby today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dansby births was 2022 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dansby. 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.
People living today
208
~ 1 in 1,647,857 Americans
Peak year
2022
51 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,471
Tracked since 2016
Gender
Gender distribution for Dansby
Dansby leans heavily male at 94.3% of total registrations, but 12 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dansby as a male name
- Ranked #5,471 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (44 births)
Dansby as a female name
- Ranked #12,548 in 2022
- 7 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (7 births)
Popularity
Dansby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dansby from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 154 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dansby 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 Dansby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dansbys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama recorded the most babies named Dansby, while North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dansby
The name Dansby is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, deriving from the combination of the words "dane" and "by." The word "dane" referred to the Danish people, while "by" meant a settlement or village. Together, Dansby likely meant "the village of the Danes" or "the Danish settlement."
This name's roots can be traced back to the 9th and 10th centuries, when the Danish Vikings were actively raiding and settling in various parts of England. As they established communities and mingled with the local population, place names like Dansby emerged to identify these Danish-influenced areas.
While the name Dansby does not appear to have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its origins are closely tied to the Viking Age and the cultural exchange between the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons in England during that period.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Dansby dates back to the 11th century, when a man named Dansby of Huntingdon was mentioned in the Domesday Book, a historic record commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name was already in use among the English population at that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Dansby, including:
1. John Dansby (c. 1588-1659), an English clergyman and academic who served as the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
2. Thomas Dansby (1631-1695), an English nonconformist minister and author who wrote several religious works.
3. William Dansby (1752-1833), an American planter and politician who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia.
4. James Dansby (1779-1846), an American politician and judge who served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives.
5. George Dansby (1848-1922), an African American Baptist minister and educator who founded the Dansby Industrial School in Alabama.
While the name Dansby may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and origins can be traced back to the cultural exchange between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons, providing a fascinating glimpse into the linguistic and societal influences that have shaped the English language and naming traditions over the centuries.
People
Dansby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dansby 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
Dansby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dansby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 208 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dansby 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 1,647,857 US residents.
Is Dansby a common name?
We classify Dansby as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 209 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dansby most popular?
The single biggest year for Dansby was 2022, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dansby is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dansby a male name?
Yes, 94.3% of people registered as Dansby 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.
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.