Dohn
Meaning "chief" or "leader", a name of English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 64 living Americans carry the first name Dohn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dohn today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dohn births was 1962 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dohn. 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 Dohn is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dohns were born before 1965.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Dohn. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
64
~ 1 in 5,355,537 Americans
Peak year
1962
9 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1966 SSA rank
#3,054
Tracked since 1935
Census
Dohn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 313 people with the first name Dohn, which placed it at #28,614 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
#28,614
National first-name rank
People counted
313
313 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dohn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dohn is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Dohn 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 Dohn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.1% · 235
- Black or African American15.0% · 47
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 14
- Two or more races2.6% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 3
Popularity
Dohn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dohn from the 1930s through to the 1960s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 36 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dohn 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 Dohn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dohn
The name Dohn is a variant spelling of the Irish name Don, which is derived from the Gaelic word "donn" meaning "brown" or "brown-haired." It is believed to have originated in the 5th or 6th century AD among the Celtic populations of Ireland and Scotland.
In ancient Irish mythology, the name is associated with the legendary hero Donn, who was said to have been the father of the Irish people. The name is also mentioned in several early Irish literary works, such as the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland), which dates back to the 11th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Dohn was Dohn O'Brien, a 12th-century Irish king who ruled the Kingdom of Thomond (modern-day County Clare) from 1168 to 1194. Another notable figure was Dohn Dubh O'Neill, a 16th-century Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Neill clan, who played a significant role in the Nine Years' War against English rule in Ireland.
During the medieval period, the name Dohn was also found in Scotland, where it was often spelled as "Doun" or "Dun." One notable Scot bearing this name was Doun Bannatyne (c. 1545-1608), a Scottish poet and courtier who served under King James VI of Scotland.
In the 17th century, Dohn Bunyan (1628-1688), an English writer and Puritan preacher, became one of the most famous individuals with this name. He is best known for his allegorical novel "The Pilgrim's Progress," which is considered a masterpiece of English literature.
Another notable figure was Dohn Dryden (1631-1700), an English poet, literary critic, and playwright who was appointed as the first Poet Laureate of England in 1668. His works, such as "Absalom and Achitophel" and "The Hind and the Panther," had a significant impact on English literature and satire.
People
Dohn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dohn 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
Dohn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dohn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 64 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dohn 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 5,355,537 US residents.
Is Dohn a common name?
We classify Dohn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 98 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dohn most popular?
The single biggest year for Dohn was 1962, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dohn is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dohn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 313 people with the name Dohn, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,614 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 Dohn 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 Dohn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dohn leans strongly male. 303 people counted with this name were male (96.8%), compared with 10 female bearers (3.2%). 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 Dohn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dohn is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Dohn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dohn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (235 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 Dohn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dohn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dohn 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 Dohn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dohn 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 Dohn 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 have the name Dohn?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Dohn, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.