Dawn
Feminine name derived from the time at daybreak, implying a new beginning.
Name Census estimates that about 239,465 living Americans carry the first name Dawn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dawn today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dawn births was 1970 (15,724 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dawn. 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 Dawn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Dawn is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,040 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Dawn have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
239K
~ 1 in 1,431 Americans
Peak year
1970
15,724 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,850
Tracked since 1888
Census
Dawn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 252,267 people with the first name Dawn, which placed it at #217 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
#217
National first-name rank
People counted
252K
252,267 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
83.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dawn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawn is White at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Dawn 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 Dawn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.4% · 217,895
- Black or African American6.4% · 16,240
- Two or more races3.3% · 8,283
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 5,724
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2,196
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1,929
Gender
Gender distribution for Dawn
Out of the 290,592 babies given the name Dawn since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Dawn as a male name
- Ranked #11,209 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (54 births)
Dawn as a female name
- Ranked #1,850 in 2024
- 108 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (15,681 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dawn appears almost entirely female. Of the 252,273 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Dawn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dawn from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 114,606 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dawn 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 Dawn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dawns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Michigan, Illinois recorded the most babies named Dawn, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,606 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dawn
The name Dawn is derived from the Old English word "dæg" or "dag," meaning "day" or "morning." It is believed to have originated as a reference to the first appearance of light at sunrise, signifying the beginning of a new day.
Dawn was initially used as a name in the English-speaking world during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. It was likely inspired by the personification of dawn in Greek and Roman mythology, where the goddess of dawn was known as Eos or Aurora, respectively.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dawn can be found in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," written in the late 14th century. In the prologue, Chaucer mentions a character named "Dawne the day gan for to spryng" (Dawn, as the day began to spring).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Dawn. One of the most famous is Dawn Powell (1896-1965), an American novelist and playwright known for her satirical depictions of New York City society in the early 20th century.
Another prominent figure with the name Dawn is Dawn Upshaw (born 1960), an American opera singer and recitalist who has received numerous accolades, including five Grammy Awards and the prestigious Beverage Award for Excellence in Vocal Performance.
In the realm of sports, Dawn Staley (born 1970) is a renowned former basketball player and current head coach of the University of South Carolina women's basketball team. She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
Dawn French (born 1957) is a beloved British actress, writer, and comedian, best known for her collaborations with Jennifer Saunders on the iconic sketch show "French and Saunders" and her role in the sitcom "Vicar of Dibley."
Lastly, Dawn Brancheau (1976-2010) was a dedicated marine mammal trainer at SeaWorld Orlando who tragically lost her life during a performance with a killer whale. Her story sparked discussions about the ethics of keeping large marine animals in captivity for entertainment purposes.
While the name Dawn has its roots in ancient languages and mythologies, it has endured throughout history, often associated with the beauty and promise of a new day. Its popularity as a given name reflects the timeless appeal of this symbolic representation of beginnings and fresh starts.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dawn
People
Dawn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dawn 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
Dawn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dawn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 239,465 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dawn 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 1,431 US residents.
Is Dawn a common name?
We classify Dawn as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 290,592 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dawn most popular?
The single biggest year for Dawn was 1970, when 15,724 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dawn is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dawn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 252,267 people with the name Dawn, or 83.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #217 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 Dawn 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 Dawn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dawn appears almost entirely female. Of the 252,273 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Dawn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawn is White at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Dawn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dawn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.4% (217,895 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 Dawn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dawn a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Dawn in the SSA data are female. 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 Dawn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dawn 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 Dawn 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 have Dawn as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.