Dawne
A feminine name meaning "morning" or "daybreak".
Name Census estimates that about 1,976 living Americans carry the first name Dawne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dawne today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dawne births was 1965 (124 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dawne. 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
2.0K
~ 1 in 173,459 Americans
Peak year
1965
124 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1994 SSA rank
#12,168
Tracked since 1926
Census
Dawne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,353 people with the first name Dawne, which placed it at #6,723 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
#6,723
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,353 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dawne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawne is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Dawne 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 Dawne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.0% · 1,860
- Black or African American12.8% · 301
- Two or more races3.5% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 19
Popularity
Dawne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dawne from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,018 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
Dawne 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 Dawne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dawnes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Dawne, while Nebraska, Iowa, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 53 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dawne
The name Dawne is an English feminine given name derived from the Middle English word "dawn," which itself originated from the Old English "dæġ" meaning "day." It is a reference to the first appearance of light in the morning, the beginning of a new day. The name Dawne emerged as a distinct given name during the 16th century in England.
In the 17th century, the name Dawne appeared in various historical records and literary works, although its usage remained relatively uncommon. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the parish registers of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, where a Dawne Woodward was baptized in 1628.
During the 18th century, a few notable individuals bore the name Dawne. Dawne Edith Wyndham (1701-1778) was an English aristocrat and the wife of Sir Wadham Wyndham, 2nd Baronet. Dawne Marie Fitzherbert (1737-1825) was an English Catholic aristocrat who secretly married George IV of the United Kingdom in 1785, although their marriage was considered invalid under the Royal Marriages Act.
In the 19th century, the name Dawne gained a bit more popularity, albeit still relatively uncommon. Dawne Eveleen Sampson (1836-1892) was an English novelist and travel writer who authored several books, including "A Daughter of Eve" and "Lilian's Retrospect." Dawne Lillian Baird (1869-1942) was a Scottish-born American writer and journalist who worked for various publications, including The New York Times and The New York Herald Tribune.
One of the most notable individuals with the name Dawne in the 20th century was Dawne Cynthia Wilkinson (1919-2002), a British actress and singer known for her performances in various television shows and films, such as "The Benny Hill Show" and "The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery." Another prominent figure was Dawne Piper (1925-2008), an American actress and model who appeared in several Hollywood films, including "The Ten Commandments" and "The Joker Is Wild."
While the name Dawne has been used throughout history, it has never achieved widespread popularity and has remained a relatively uncommon choice for a given name. Its usage has waxed and waned over the centuries, but its connection to the concept of a new beginning and the dawning of a new day has remained a consistent theme.
People
Dawne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dawne 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
Dawne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dawne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,976 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dawne 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 173,459 US residents.
Is Dawne a common name?
We classify Dawne as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dawne most popular?
The single biggest year for Dawne was 1965, when 124 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dawne is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dawne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,353 people with the name Dawne, or 0.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,723 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 Dawne 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 Dawne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dawne appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,348 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Dawne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawne is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Dawne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dawne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.0% (1,860 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 Dawne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dawne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dawne 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 Dawne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dawne 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 Dawne 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 are called Dawne?
You can see how many people share the name Dawne on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.