Dawsen
Son of David, a masculine name of English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 530 living Americans carry the first name Dawsen. It is a predominantly male name (94.2% of registrations). The average person named Dawsen today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dawsen births was 1999 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dawsen. 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
530
~ 1 in 646,706 Americans
Peak year
1999
38 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,700
Tracked since 1998
Gender
Gender distribution for Dawsen
Dawsen leans heavily male at 94.2% of total registrations, but 31 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dawsen as a male name
- Ranked #5,700 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (38 births)
Dawsen as a female name
- Ranked #15,808 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (7 births)
Popularity
Dawsen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dawsen 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 198 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dawsen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dawsen 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 Dawsen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dawsens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dawsen
The given name Dawsen is believed to have originated from the Old English language, derived from the word "daw" which means "dawn" or "daybreak." This suggests that the name may have been initially bestowed upon individuals born at the break of dawn or early in the morning hours.
In ancient times, the name Dawsen was prevalent among Anglo-Saxon communities in present-day England, particularly in the regions of Wessex and Mercia. It was often spelled as "Dawsone" or "Dawsyn" in historical records and manuscripts from the 9th to 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Dawsen was a Saxon warrior named Dawsen the Valiant, who is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for his bravery in the Battle of Ashingdon in 893 AD. Another early reference can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which lists a landowner named Dawsen of Kingsclere among the tenants in Hampshire.
During the Middle Ages, the name Dawsen gained popularity among the English nobility. Notably, Sir Dawsen Fitzwilliam (1325-1390) was a prominent knight and military commander who fought alongside Edward III in the Hundred Years' War against France. His exploits are recorded in the chronicles of the 14th century.
In the 16th century, Dawsen Latimer (1492-1555) was an English Protestant reformer and one of the most influential figures of the English Reformation. He was a Bishop of Worcester and played a crucial role in the establishment of the Church of England under King Henry VIII.
Another notable figure was Dawsen Mullock (1615-1690), an English Catholic priest and mathematician who made significant contributions to the development of calculus. His work on the calculation of tangents and areas under curves was influential in the field of mathematics during the 17th century.
Dawsen Bronte (1775-1861) was an Irish clergyman and writer, best known as the father of the famous Bronte sisters, including Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte. He served as a curate in the Church of England and encouraged his daughters' literary pursuits, which later gained worldwide recognition.
People
Dawsen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dawsen 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
Dawsen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dawsen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 530 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dawsen 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 646,706 US residents.
Is Dawsen a common name?
We classify Dawsen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 536 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dawsen most popular?
The single biggest year for Dawsen was 1999, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dawsen is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dawsen a male name?
Yes, 94.2% of people registered as Dawsen 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.