Dickey
Derived from the surname Dickey, a diminutive form of Richard.
Name Census estimates that about 532 living Americans carry the first name Dickey. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dickey today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dickey births was 1948 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dickey. 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 Dickey is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dickeys were born before 1964.
People living today
532
~ 1 in 644,275 Americans
Peak year
1948
38 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1978 SSA rank
#6,061
Tracked since 1922
Popularity
Dickey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dickey from the 1920s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 264 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dickey 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 Dickey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dickeys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Arkansas, Alabama recorded the most babies named Dickey, while Alabama, Arkansas, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dickey
The given name Dickey is believed to have originated as a diminutive form of the English name Richard, which is derived from the Germanic elements "ric" meaning power and "hard" meaning brave or hardy. The earliest recorded use of Dickey as a given name dates back to the late Middle Ages in England, around the 14th or 15th century.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Dickey was an English politician and landowner named Dickey Bowyer, who lived in the early 16th century. Another notable historical figure with the name Dickey was Dickey Pearce, an English highwayman and robber from the 17th century, who gained notoriety for his daring exploits and narrow escapes from the authorities.
In the realm of literature, the name Dickey appears in the works of renowned English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. In his play "The Merry Wives of Windsor," one of the characters is referred to as "Dickey Husbandman," which was likely a reference to the name's association with rural or agricultural contexts.
Moving forward to the 18th century, Dickey Bowers was a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War and played a role in several naval engagements against the American forces. In the same century, Dickey Pearson was a notable English painter and engraver, whose works were highly regarded for their attention to detail and technical mastery.
In more recent times, one of the most famous individuals to bear the name Dickey was James Dickey, an American poet and novelist born in 1923 and renowned for his works such as "Deliverance" and "Buckdancer's Choice." Dickey's writing often explored themes of nature, masculinity, and the human condition, earning him a prominent place in 20th-century American literature.
People
Dickey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dickey 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
Dickey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dickey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 532 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dickey 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 644,275 US residents.
Is Dickey a common name?
We classify Dickey 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, 918 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dickey most popular?
The single biggest year for Dickey was 1948, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dickey is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dickey a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dickey 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.