Doc
An affectionate shortened form of the word "doctor".
Name Census estimates that about 625 living Americans carry the first name Doc. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Doc today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Doc births was 2021 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Doc. 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
625
~ 1 in 548,407 Americans
Peak year
2021
37 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,810
Tracked since 1880
Census
Doc in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 985 people with the first name Doc, which placed it at #12,585 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
#12,585
National first-name rank
People counted
985
985 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Doc
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doc is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%). 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 Doc 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 Doc at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.7% · 618
- Black or African American16.1% · 159
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.8% · 97
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 50
- Two or more races4.5% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 17
Popularity
Doc: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Doc from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 177 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Doc remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Doc 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 Doc during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Docs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Doc, while California, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Doc
The name Doc is a diminutive form of the name Doctor, which originates from the Latin word "doctor" meaning "teacher" or "instructor." The name Doctor itself is derived from the verb "docere," which means "to teach." The use of the shortened form "Doc" as a given name likely emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century, when it became common to refer to medical professionals informally as "Doc."
The name Doc gained popularity as a given name in the United States, particularly in the American West during the late 19th century. It was often used as a nickname or informal title for individuals who practiced medicine or provided medical care, even if they were not formally trained doctors. This reflected the informal and rugged nature of life in the frontier regions, where access to professional medical care was often limited.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Doc being used as a given name is Doc Holliday, the famous gambler, gunfighter, and dentist who was born John Henry Holliday in 1851. He acquired the nickname "Doc" due to his training as a dentist, and it became his most commonly used name. Another notable historical figure with the name Doc was Doc Adams, a frontier doctor and politician who served as the second governor of Colorado from 1905 to 1907. His given name was William Husted Adams, but he was widely known as "Doc."
In the realm of sports, there have been several notable figures with the name Doc. Doc Blanchard, born Johnny Roosevelt Blanchard in 1924, was a legendary college football player for the Army Black Knights and won the Heisman Trophy in 1945. Doc Rivers, born Glenn Anthony Rivers in 1961, is a former NBA player and current head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. He acquired the nickname "Doc" during his playing days due to his intellectual demeanor and his ability to facilitate plays.
In the world of literature, Doc Lonehill is the nickname given to the character John Lonehill in the novel "Doc" by Mary Doria Russell, published in 2011. The novel is a fictional portrayal of the life of Doc Holliday, the famous gunfighter and dentist.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the given name Doc, reflecting its connection to the medical profession, as well as its informal and rugged connotations, particularly in the American West.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Doc
People
Doc + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Doc 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
Doc: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Doc?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 625 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Doc 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 548,407 US residents.
Is Doc a common name?
We classify Doc as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,364 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Doc most popular?
The single biggest year for Doc was 2021, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Doc is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Doc in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 985 people with the name Doc, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,585 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 Doc 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 Doc?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Doc leans strongly male. 916 people counted with this name were male (93.5%), compared with 64 female bearers (6.5%). 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 Doc?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doc is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%). 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 Doc most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Doc in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.7% (618 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 Doc in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Doc a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Doc 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 Doc still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Doc 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 Doc 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 Doc?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.