Doak
A given name of English or Scottish origin, derived from a place name meaning "oak valley".
Name Census estimates that about 146 living Americans carry the first name Doak. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Doak today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Doak births was 1957 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Doak. 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.
People living today
146
~ 1 in 2,347,632 Americans
Peak year
1957
17 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2021 SSA rank
#9,987
Tracked since 1915
Census
Doak in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 241 people with the first name Doak, which placed it at #34,040 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
#34,040
National first-name rank
People counted
241
241 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Doak
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doak is White at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.7%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Doak 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 Doak at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.5% · 218
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 9
- Two or more races2.9% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
- Black or African American0.8% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Doak: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Doak from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 94 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
Doak 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 Doak during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Doaks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Doak
The name Doak is believed to have originated from the Old English word "docce," which means "ditch" or "small stream." It is a name that has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture of England, dating back to the early medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Doak can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and estates in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Anglo-Saxon population before the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
In medieval times, the name Doak was likely associated with individuals who lived near a ditch or small stream, reflecting the geographic features of their dwelling place. This name may have also been used as a descriptive surname for those whose occupation involved working with ditches or water channels.
The earliest known historical figure with the name Doak was Sir John Doak, a knight who fought alongside King Edward III of England during the Hundred Years' War against France in the 14th century. Another notable bearer of the name was Thomas Doak, a 16th-century English merchant and explorer who played a significant role in establishing trade routes between England and the Mediterranean region.
In the 17th century, the name Doak gained prominence in Scotland, where it was adopted by several prominent families. One of the most notable individuals was Sir James Doak, a Scottish landowner and politician who served as a member of the Parliament of Scotland in the late 1600s.
The name Doak also found its way to the Americas, particularly in the United States, where it was carried by several early settlers and pioneers. One of the earliest recorded instances was William Doak, a Presbyterian minister who founded Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Virginia in 1782. Another notable figure was Samuel Doak, a prominent educator and minister who established Doak's Cross Roads, a settlement in Tennessee, in the late 18th century.
Other notable individuals with the first name Doak throughout history include:
1. Doak Walker (1927-1998), an American football player and member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
2. Doak Snead (1916-1988), an American professional golfer who won numerous tournaments in the 1940s and 1950s.
3. Doak Campbell (1888-1936), an American football coach and athletic director at Florida State University, for whom the school's football stadium is named.
4. Doak Ewing (1924-2006), an American actor and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions and films.
5. Doak Ostergard (1916-1997), an American artist and sculptor known for his abstract expressionist works.
People
Doak + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Doak 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
Doak: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Doak?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 146 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Doak 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 2,347,632 US residents.
Is Doak a common name?
We classify Doak as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Doak most popular?
The single biggest year for Doak was 1957, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Doak is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Doak in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 241 people with the name Doak, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,040 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 Doak 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 Doak?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Doak leans strongly male. 235 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 3 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Doak?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doak is White at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.7%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Doak most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Doak in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.5% (218 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 Doak in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Doak a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Doak 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 Doak still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Doak 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 Doak 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 share the name Doak?
Want to know how many people have the name Doak? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.