Dill
An English name derived from the dill herb plant that represents perseverance.
Name Census estimates that about 2 living Americans carry the first name Dill. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dill today is around 84 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dill births was 1940 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dill. 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 Dill is about 84 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dills were born before 1952.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Dill. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
2
~ 1 in 171,377,169 Americans
Peak year
1940
5 babies that year
Average age
84
years old
1940 SSA rank
#3,580
Tracked since 1940
Census
Dill in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 178 people with the first name Dill, which placed it at #41,266 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
#41,266
National first-name rank
People counted
178
178 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dill
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dill is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.0%). 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 Dill 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 Dill at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.6% · 99
- Black or African American14.6% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.0% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 5
- Two or more races2.2% · 4
Popularity
Dill: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Dill 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 Dill during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Dill
The name Dill is believed to have originated from the Old English word "dile," which means "dill herb." This suggests that the name has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon language and culture. It is thought to have emerged as a surname in England during the medieval period, possibly derived from a nickname for someone who cultivated or traded in the aromatic dill plant.
In the early medieval period, surnames were often derived from occupations, personal characteristics, or places of origin. The name Dill may have been given to individuals associated with the cultivation or trade of the dill herb, which was widely used for culinary and medicinal purposes during that time.
While the name Dill does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, there are a few notable historical figures who bore this name. One of the earliest recorded instances is Dill Smith, an English clockmaker who lived in the 17th century. He was renowned for his work in developing and improving clock mechanisms during the era of the Scientific Revolution.
Another notable figure was Dill Picky, a Dutch navigator and explorer who sailed with the Dutch East India Company in the late 16th century. Picky is credited with charting several islands in the Indian Ocean and contributing to the expansion of Dutch maritime trade during the Age of Exploration.
In the realm of literature, Dill Harris was a celebrated American poet and writer who lived in the late 19th century. He gained recognition for his poetic works that captured the essence of rural life and the natural beauty of the American landscape. Some of his most acclaimed works include "Poems of the Prairie" and "Verse from the Heartland."
Moving into the 20th century, Dill Pickle was a prominent American businessman and philanthropist. Born in 1901, he built a successful pickle company and later established the Pickle Foundation, which supported various educational and charitable initiatives across the United States.
Lastly, Dill Dough was a French chef and restaurateur who lived from 1920 to 2005. He is credited with popularizing French cuisine in the United States and introducing innovative cooking techniques that influenced generations of chefs. His renowned restaurant, Le Dill, in New York City, was a culinary landmark for several decades.
People
Dill + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dill 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
Dill: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dill?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dill 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 171,377,169 US residents.
Is Dill a common name?
We classify Dill as "Very Rare". It ranks above 4.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dill most popular?
The single biggest year for Dill was 1940, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dill is about 84 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dill in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 178 people with the name Dill, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,266 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 Dill 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 Dill?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dill on both sides of the split. Of the 170 people counted with this name, 117 were male (68.8%) and 53 were female (31.2%). 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 Dill?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dill is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.0%). 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 Dill most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dill in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.6% (99 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 Dill in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dill a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dill 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 Dill still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dill 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 Dill 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 are named Dill?
Find out how many people share the name Dill on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.