Dev
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning divine, deity, or god.
Name Census estimates that about 2,984 living Americans carry the first name Dev. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dev today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dev births was 2009 (145 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dev. 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 Dev with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Dev 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
3.0K
~ 1 in 114,864 Americans
Peak year
2009
145 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,392
Tracked since 1969
Census
Dev in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,491 people with the first name Dev, which placed it at #5,050 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
#5,050
National first-name rank
People counted
3.5K
3,491 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
79.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dev
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dev is Asian/Pacific Islander at 79.8%. The next largest groups are White (8.2%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Dev 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 Dev at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander79.8% · 2,785
- White8.2% · 286
- Two or more races6.0% · 209
- Black or African American3.5% · 123
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 75
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 13
Popularity
Dev: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dev from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,188 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dev remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dev 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 Dev during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Devs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Dev, while Washington, Maryland, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 119 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dev
The name Dev is of Sanskrit origin, deriving from the word 'deva' which means 'divine' or 'heavenly'. It is a name that has been used across various cultures and religions in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, where it was often used as a reference to deities or celestial beings.
One of the most well-known historical figures with the name Dev is Dev Anand, an Indian film actor, writer, and producer who lived from 1923 to 2011. He was a pioneering figure in the Hindi film industry and is often regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian cinema.
Another notable individual with the name Dev was Dev Patel, an English actor born in 1990. He rose to fame for his roles in films such as Slumdog Millionaire, for which he received numerous accolades and nominations, including a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
In the world of literature, Dev Virahsawmy was a Mauritian author and playwright who lived from 1942 to 2001. He is considered one of the most influential writers in the Mauritian literary scene and is known for his contributions to the development of Mauritian literature.
The name Dev has also been associated with historical figures in the field of music. Dev Anand Puri, born in 1972, is an Indian classical vocalist and composer who has performed extensively both in India and internationally.
Finally, Dev Raj Anand was an Indian writer and art critic who lived from 1923 to 2004. He is best known for his novels and short stories that explored themes of social injustice, poverty, and the human condition in modern India.
People
Dev + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dev 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
Dev: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dev?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,984 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dev 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 114,864 US residents.
Is Dev a common name?
We classify Dev as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,020 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dev most popular?
The single biggest year for Dev was 2009, when 145 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dev 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 Dev in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,491 people with the name Dev, or 1.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,050 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 Dev 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 Dev?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dev leans strongly male. 3,365 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 129 female bearers (3.7%). 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 Dev?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dev is Asian/Pacific Islander at 79.8%. The next largest groups are White (8.2%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Dev most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Dev in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.8% (2,785 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 Dev in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dev a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dev 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 Dev still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dev 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 Dev 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 have Dev as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Dev, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.