Dewaine
Of English origin, meaning uncertain but possibly derived from a surname based on a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 329 living Americans carry the first name Dewaine. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dewaine today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dewaine births was 1959 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dewaine. 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
- • The typical person named Dewaine is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dewaines were born before 1971.
People living today
329
~ 1 in 1,041,806 Americans
Peak year
1959
16 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1998 SSA rank
#10,030
Tracked since 1920
Popularity
Dewaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dewaine from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 116 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dewaine 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 Dewaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dewaines live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dewaine
The given name Dewaine is a modern English variant of the French name Duane, which in turn derives from the medieval French personal name Doane. The earliest known origin of Doane can be traced back to the Old Breton name Douen, meaning "brown-haired" or "dark-complexioned." This name itself is believed to have originated from the Celtic root word "duon," meaning "dark" or "swarthy."
The name Doane first appeared in historical records during the Middle Ages in Brittany, a cultural region located in the northwest of France. It was a common name among the Breton people, who were descendants of the ancient Celtic Britons and closely related to the Welsh and Cornish cultures.
One of the earliest documented individuals bearing the name was Doane de Penthièvre, a Breton nobleman who lived in the 12th century. He was a prominent figure during the reign of Duke Conan IV of Brittany and served as a loyal advisor and military commander.
In the 16th century, the name Doane gained popularity among French Protestants, or Huguenots. One notable bearer was Jean Doane, a Huguenot minister who fled religious persecution in France and settled in England in the late 1500s.
Another historically significant individual was Thomas Doane, an English Puritan who emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 1600s. He was among the first settlers of the town of Eastham on Cape Cod and served as a prominent member of the colonial government.
In the 18th century, the name Duane emerged as a variant spelling of Doane, particularly in North America. One of the most renowned figures with this name was James Duane (1733-1797), a prominent American jurist, politician, and revolutionary patriot. He was a member of the Continental Congress and served as the first post-colonial mayor of New York City.
Moving into the 19th century, a notable bearer of the name was William J. Duane (1780-1865), an American lawyer and politician who served as the Secretary of the Treasury under President Andrew Jackson. He was also the son of the aforementioned William Duane, the newspaper editor and revolutionary writer.
People
Dewaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dewaine 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
Dewaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dewaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 329 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dewaine 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 1,041,806 US residents.
Is Dewaine a common name?
We classify Dewaine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 576 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dewaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Dewaine was 1959, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dewaine is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dewaine a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dewaine 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.