Dedre
A variant of the feminine name Audrey, possibly of English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 38 living Americans carry the first name Dedre. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dedre today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dedre births was 1975 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dedre. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Dedre. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
38
~ 1 in 9,019,851 Americans
Peak year
1975
7 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1979 SSA rank
#10,574
Tracked since 1958
Census
Dedre in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 123 people with the first name Dedre, which placed it at #49,809 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
#49,809
National first-name rank
People counted
123
123 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dedre
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dedre is White at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Black (43.9%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Dedre 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 Dedre at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.5% · 56
- Black or African American43.9% · 54
- Two or more races5.7% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 2
Popularity
Dedre: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dedre from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 28 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dedre 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 Dedre during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dedre
The name Dedre is of Old English origin, derived from the Old English words "deor" meaning "beloved" and "rīce" meaning "powerful" or "ruler." It emerged as a feminine given name during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th centuries.
In its earliest form, the name was spelled "Deorrīce" or "Deorhyrde," and it was primarily used by the Anglo-Saxon nobility and royal families. The name was often bestowed upon daughters born into powerful households, signifying their status and the hope for a prosperous future.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dedre can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record compiled in the late 9th century. The Chronicle mentions a woman named Deorrīce, who was a member of the royal family of Wessex in the 8th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Dedre underwent several spelling variations, including "Deodric," "Deodrych," and "Dedrica." It was particularly popular among the nobility of England and Wales during this period.
In the 12th century, a noblewoman named Dedre of Gloucester was a prominent figure at the court of King Henry II. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in religious affairs.
Another notable bearer of the name was Dedre de Vere, who lived in the 13th century and was a member of the powerful de Vere family. She was renowned for her intelligence and her active role in managing the family's estates.
In the 15th century, Dedre Neville was a prominent figure during the Wars of the Roses. She was a staunch supporter of the House of York and played a crucial role in the political intrigues of the time.
During the Tudor period in the 16th century, Dedre Seymour was a member of the influential Seymour family and was known for her involvement in court politics and her patronage of writers and artists.
The name Dedre continued to be used by English nobility and gentry throughout the centuries, although its popularity waned slightly in more recent times. It has maintained a sense of historical significance and has been associated with strength, power, and nobility throughout its long history.
People
Dedre + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dedre 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
Dedre: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dedre?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dedre 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 9,019,851 US residents.
Is Dedre a common name?
We classify Dedre as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 44 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dedre most popular?
The single biggest year for Dedre was 1975, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dedre is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dedre in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 123 people with the name Dedre, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,809 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 Dedre 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 Dedre?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dedre leans strongly female. 110 people counted with this name were female (88.7%), compared with 14 male bearers (11.3%). 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 Dedre?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dedre is White at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Black (43.9%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Dedre most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dedre in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.5% (56 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 Dedre in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dedre a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dedre 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 Dedre still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dedre 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 Dedre 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 Dedre?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.