Dawood
A masculine given name of Arabic origin meaning "beloved."
Name Census estimates that about 332 living Americans carry the first name Dawood. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dawood today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dawood births was 2023 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dawood. 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 Dawood with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
332
~ 1 in 1,032,393 Americans
Peak year
2023
27 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,909
Tracked since 1994
Census
Dawood in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 772 people with the first name Dawood, which placed it at #15,023 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
#15,023
National first-name rank
People counted
772
772 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
43.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dawood
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawood is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.9%. The next largest groups are White (40.5%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Dawood 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 Dawood at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander43.9% · 339
- White40.5% · 313
- Black or African American7.8% · 60
- Two or more races5.6% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Dawood: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dawood from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 148 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dawood remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dawood 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 Dawood during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dawoods live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dawood
The name Dawood is an Arabic name derived from the Hebrew name David, which means "beloved" or "friend." It traces its origins to the Biblical figure of King David, a prominent figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The name has been in use for thousands of years and has had various spellings and pronunciations across different cultures and languages.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, David was a shepherd who became the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel and Judah. He is revered as a prophet in Islam and is mentioned in the Quran as a righteous king and warrior who fought against the enemies of God. The Quran also refers to him as Dawood, which is the Arabic version of his name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dawood can be found in the Quran, where it is mentioned several times. The name has been popular among Muslims since the advent of Islam in the 7th century AD.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Dawood. One of the most famous was Dawood Khan, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India, who ruled from 1526 to 1530. Another notable figure was Dawood Pasha, an Ottoman governor and military commander who lived in the 16th century.
In the modern era, Dawood has been a popular name in various parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia. Some notable individuals with this name include Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian crime boss and the former leader of the D-Company criminal organization; Dawood Khan, a Pakistani cricketer who played in the 1970s and 1980s; and Dawood Khan Mehmood Khelji, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan in the 1960s.
Other historical figures with the name Dawood include Dawood Al-Jalili, an Islamic scholar and mathematician from the 11th century; Dawood Khan Karrani, the ruler of the Bengal Sultanate in the 16th century; and Dawood Anari, a famous Persian poet and mystic from the 14th century.
The name Dawood has a rich historical and cultural significance, tracing its roots back to ancient times and spanning various religions and cultures. Its enduring popularity over the centuries is a testament to its timeless appeal and the reverence for the Biblical figure from whom it derives its meaning.
People
Dawood + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dawood 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
Dawood: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dawood?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 332 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dawood 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 1,032,393 US residents.
Is Dawood a common name?
We classify Dawood as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 335 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dawood most popular?
The single biggest year for Dawood was 2023, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dawood is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dawood in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 772 people with the name Dawood, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,023 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 Dawood 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 Dawood?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dawood appears almost entirely male. Of the 757 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Dawood?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawood is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.9%. The next largest groups are White (40.5%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Dawood most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Dawood in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.9% (339 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 Dawood in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dawood a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dawood 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 Dawood still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dawood 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 Dawood 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 Americans are named Dawood?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.