Dovber
A masculine name of Yiddish origin meaning "bear" or "teddy bear".
Name Census estimates that about 171 living Americans carry the first name Dovber. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dovber today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dovber births was 2014 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dovber. 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
171
~ 1 in 2,004,411 Americans
Peak year
2014
14 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,136
Tracked since 1991
Popularity
Dovber: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dovber from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 96 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dovber remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dovber 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 Dovber during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dovbers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dovber
The name Dovber is of Yiddish origin, derived from the Hebrew word "dov," meaning "bear." It was a popular name among Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dovber can be found in the Talmud, an ancient Jewish text that dates back to the 3rd century CE. The name is mentioned in the context of a rabbinical scholar known as Dovber the Dyer.
In the 16th century, a renowned Kabbalist and mystic named Dovber of Mezeritch (1710-1772) played a significant role in the spread of Hasidic Judaism. He was a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic movement, and is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of Hasidism.
Another notable figure with the name Dovber was Rabbi Dovber Schneuri (1773-1827), also known as the Mitteler Rebbe or the Middle Rabbi. He was the second leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement and was renowned for his scholarly works and leadership.
In the 19th century, Rabbi Dovber Pinson (1875-1942) was a prominent Chabad-Lubavitch leader and scholar. He founded several Chabad yeshivas (religious schools) and was instrumental in spreading the Chabad movement throughout Ukraine and Russia.
Another famous bearer of the name was Dovber Naiditch (1881-1943), a Yiddish playwright and actor who contributed significantly to the development of Yiddish theater in Eastern Europe and the United States.
While the name Dovber was once commonly used among Ashkenazi Jews, particularly in Eastern Europe, it has become less prevalent in modern times. However, it remains a significant part of Jewish cultural heritage and is still used within certain Hasidic communities.
People
Dovber + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dovber 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
Dovber: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dovber?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 171 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dovber 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 2,004,411 US residents.
Is Dovber a common name?
We classify Dovber as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 173 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dovber most popular?
The single biggest year for Dovber was 2014, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dovber is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Dovber in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dovber a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dovber 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 Dovber still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dovber 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 Dovber 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Dovber as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.