Dawson
Son of David, a masculine name derived from an English surname.
Name Census estimates that about 50,071 living Americans carry the first name Dawson. It sits at #139 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Dawson today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dawson births was 1999 (2,834 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dawson. 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 Dawson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Dawson is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,316 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Dawson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
50K
~ 1 in 6,845 Americans
Peak year
1999
2,834 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#139
Tracked since 1885
Census
Dawson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 36,419 people with the first name Dawson, which placed it at #1,122 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
#1,122
National first-name rank
People counted
36K
36,419 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dawson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawson is White at 86.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Dawson 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 Dawson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.6% · 31,543
- Two or more races4.6% · 1,667
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 1,369
- Black or African American2.7% · 992
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 475
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 373
Gender
Gender distribution for Dawson
Dawson leans heavily male at 97.5% of total registrations, but 1,316 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dawson as a male name
- Ranked #139 in 2024
- 2,576 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (2,802 births)
Dawson as a female name
- Ranked #2,109 in 2024
- 90 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (100 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dawson leans strongly male. 35,549 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 868 female bearers (2.4%).
Popularity
Dawson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dawson from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 17,129 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Dawson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dawson 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 Dawson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dawsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Dawson, while Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 956 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dawson
The given name Dawson is an English surname that originated as a patronymic name, meaning "son of David." Its roots can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when it was derived from the Hebrew name "David," which means "beloved" or "friend."
In the 12th century, during the time of the Crusades, the name David gained popularity in Europe as a result of the veneration of the Biblical King David. As families began adopting surnames, patronymic names like Dawson became common, indicating the father's name.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Dawson dates back to 1273, when it appeared in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, England. This document listed landowners and their properties for taxation purposes, indicating that the name was already in use by that time.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Dawson was Sir Archibald Dawson (c. 1505-1578), a Scottish landowner and member of the Parliament of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Another notable individual with this name was William Dawson (1599-1688), an English clergyman and scholar who served as the Bishop of Lincoln. He was known for his expertise in Greek and Roman literature.
In the 18th century, John Dawson (1734-1820) was a prominent English agriculturist and author who wrote extensively on farming techniques and crop cultivation. His contributions helped shape the agricultural practices of his time.
Moving into the 19th century, Sir John William Dawson (1820-1899) was a Canadian geologist and educator who served as the Principal of McGill University in Montreal. He made significant contributions to the study of fossil plants and the understanding of Earth's geological history.
In more recent times, Sir Derman Dawson (1900-1987) was a British military officer who played a crucial role in the Allied campaigns during World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership and bravery.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the given name Dawson throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and the diverse fields in which individuals with this name have made their mark.
People
Dawson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dawson 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
Dawson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dawson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 50,071 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dawson 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 6,845 US residents.
Is Dawson a common name?
We classify Dawson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51,610 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dawson most popular?
The single biggest year for Dawson was 1999, when 2,834 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dawson is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dawson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 36,419 people with the name Dawson, or 12.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,122 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 Dawson 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 Dawson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dawson leans strongly male. 35,549 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 868 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Dawson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dawson is White at 86.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Dawson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dawson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.6% (31,543 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 Dawson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dawson a male name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Dawson 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 Dawson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dawson 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 Dawson 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 share the name Dawson?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.