Dolph
From the Greek 'dolphin', referring to the marine mammal.
Name Census estimates that about 199 living Americans carry the first name Dolph. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dolph today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dolph births was 1919 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dolph. 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 Dolph is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dolphs were born before 1965.
People living today
199
~ 1 in 1,722,384 Americans
Peak year
1919
18 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,225
Tracked since 1881
Popularity
Dolph: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dolph from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 127 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dolph 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 Dolph during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dolphs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dolph
The name Dolph has its origins in the Dutch language. It is a shortened form of the name Adolph, which is derived from the Old German name Adalwolf, meaning "noble wolf". The name was popular in the Netherlands and Germany during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dolph can be found in the 13th century, when Dolph van der Meer, a Dutch nobleman, was mentioned in historical records. The name gained prominence during the Renaissance period, particularly in the Netherlands.
A famous bearer of the name Dolph was Dolph Lundgren, a Swedish actor, filmmaker, and martial artist, born in 1957. He is best known for his roles in action films such as Rocky IV, Universal Soldier, and The Expendables franchise.
Another notable individual with the name Dolph was Dolph Camilli, an American professional baseball player who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1930s and 1940s. He was born in 1907 and died in 1997.
In the world of literature, Dolph Heyliger was an American author and playwright born in 1853. He is known for his works such as The Bayou Bride and The Voodoo Doctor.
Dolph Schayes, an American professional basketball player and coach, was born in 1928. He played for the Syracuse Nationals and the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1973.
Lastly, Dolph Ziggler, an American professional wrestler, was born in 1980. He has performed for WWE since 2004 and has held numerous championships, including the World Heavyweight Championship and the Intercontinental Championship.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dolph
People
Dolph + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dolph 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
Dolph: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dolph?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 199 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dolph 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 1,722,384 US residents.
Is Dolph a common name?
We classify Dolph as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 626 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dolph most popular?
The single biggest year for Dolph was 1919, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dolph is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dolph a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dolph 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.