Doyce
A masculine name of Scottish origin, possibly derived from the surname Doughty.
Name Census estimates that about 402 living Americans carry the first name Doyce. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Doyce today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Doyce births was 1936 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Doyce. 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 Doyce is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Doyces were born before 1959.
People living today
402
~ 1 in 852,623 Americans
Peak year
1936
48 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1993 SSA rank
#3,476
Tracked since 1914
Census
Doyce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 559 people with the first name Doyce, which placed it at #19,094 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
#19,094
National first-name rank
People counted
559
559 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Doyce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doyce is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Doyce 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 Doyce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.8% · 491
- Black or African American7.0% · 39
- Two or more races3.2% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Doyce
Doyce leans heavily male at 84.6% of total registrations, but 172 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Doyce as a male name
- Ranked #9,144 in 1993
- 5 male births in 1993
- Peak: 1934 (39 births)
Doyce as a female name
- Ranked #3,476 in 1946
- 9 female births in 1946
- Peak: 1935 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doyce on both sides of the split. Of the 568 people counted with this name, 429 were male (75.5%) and 139 were female (24.5%).
Popularity
Doyce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Doyce from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 358 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Doyce 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 Doyce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Doyces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Doyce, while Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 63 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Doyce
The name Doyce is a unique and intriguing one, with its origins shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. While its exact roots remain elusive, some scholars suggest that it may have its beginnings in ancient Greece, derived from the word "doykos," which translates to "leader" or "commander." Others hypothesize that it could be a variation of the Germanic name "Deutz," meaning "people" or "folk."
Despite the ambiguity surrounding its linguistic heritage, the name Doyce has managed to leave its mark on various cultures and eras throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances of this name can be found in the annals of medieval England, where a nobleman named Doyce de Montfort was mentioned in a 12th-century chronicle as a loyal knight in the service of King Henry II.
Fast forward to the Renaissance era, and we encounter Doyce Bellini, a renowned Italian painter and artist who lived from 1430 to 1516. Bellini's masterpieces, which adorned the walls of churches and palaces across Italy, are celebrated for their vibrant colors and innovative techniques, making him a pivotal figure in the development of Venetian art.
In the realm of literature, Doyce Fielding, an English novelist and playwright born in 1707, etched his name into the annals of literary history with his satirical works that offered biting social commentary on the aristocracy of his time. His most famous play, "The Miser," remains a classic of the English stage to this day.
Crossing the Atlantic, we find Doyce Jefferson, a prominent figure in the American Revolutionary War. Born in 1745 in Virginia, Jefferson served as a trusted aide-de-camp to General George Washington and played a vital role in the pivotal Battle of Monmouth, where his bravery and strategic acumen earned him the respect of his peers and superiors alike.
Finally, in the 20th century, we encounter Doyce Ellington, a pioneering African American jazz musician and bandleader. Born in 1899 in Washington, D.C., Ellington's innovative compositions and distinctive sound revolutionized the genre of jazz, earning him numerous accolades, including the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.
While the exact origins of the name Doyce may remain shrouded in mystery, its presence throughout history is undeniable, as evidenced by the remarkable individuals who have borne this moniker. From medieval knights to Renaissance artists, literary luminaries to revolutionary heroes, and trailblazing musicians, the name Doyce has left an indelible mark on the tapestry of human civilization.
People
Doyce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Doyce 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
Doyce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Doyce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 402 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Doyce 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 852,623 US residents.
Is Doyce a common name?
We classify Doyce as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,118 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Doyce most popular?
The single biggest year for Doyce was 1936, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Doyce is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Doyce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 559 people with the name Doyce, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,094 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 Doyce 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 Doyce?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doyce on both sides of the split. Of the 568 people counted with this name, 429 were male (75.5%) and 139 were female (24.5%). 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 Doyce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doyce is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Doyce most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Doyce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (491 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 Doyce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Doyce a male name?
Yes, 84.6% of people registered as Doyce 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 Doyce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Doyce 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 Doyce 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 Doyce?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.