Dresden
A German place name derived from Old Sorbian for "people of the forest stream".
Name Census estimates that about 1,124 living Americans carry the first name Dresden. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Dresden today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dresden births was 2012 (84 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dresden. 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
- • Dresden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 304,942 Americans
Peak year
2012
84 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,587
Tracked since 1964
Census
Dresden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,054 people with the first name Dresden, which placed it at #11,975 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
#11,975
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,054 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dresden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dresden is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Dresden 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 Dresden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.4% · 732
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 122
- Two or more races10.2% · 108
- Black or African American5.2% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Dresden
Dresden leans heavily male at 83.9% of total registrations, but 183 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dresden as a male name
- Ranked #4,587 in 2024
- 22 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (73 births)
Dresden as a female name
- Ranked #8,416 in 2017
- 13 female births in 2017
- Peak: 2017 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dresden on both sides of the split. Of the 1,051 people counted with this name, 776 were male (73.8%) and 275 were female (26.2%).
Popularity
Dresden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dresden from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 587 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dresden 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 Dresden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dresdens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Dresden, while Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dresden
The name Dresden has its origins in the German language and culture. It is derived from the Old High German word "trevisūri," which means "people living on the bank of a river." This suggests that the name was initially used to refer to those who inhabited the areas along the banks of a river, likely the Elbe River in what is now the city of Dresden, Germany.
The earliest recorded use of the name Dresden dates back to the 13th century, when it was mentioned in various historical documents and records from the region. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Dresden was a German nobleman named Heinrich von Dresden, who lived in the late 13th century and was a prominent figure in the local nobility.
Throughout history, the name Dresden has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the most famous was the German composer Richard Wagner, who was born in 1813 in Leipzig and is renowned for his operas, including "Tristan und Isolde" and "Der Ring des Nibelungen." Wagner had a close connection with the city of Dresden, where many of his works were premiered and performed.
Another significant figure who bore the name Dresden was the German painter and architect Gottfried Semper, who lived from 1803 to 1879. Semper was a leading proponent of the Baroque revival style and is best known for his design of the Semper Opera House in Dresden, which was completed in 1841 and is considered one of the most iconic buildings in the city.
In the field of science, the name Dresden is associated with the German physicist and Nobel laureate Max von Laue, who was born in 1879 in Pfaffendorf, near Koblenz. Von Laue made significant contributions to the study of X-ray diffraction and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his discoveries related to the interference phenomenon of X-rays and crystals.
Another notable individual with the name Dresden was the German philosopher and writer Theodor W. Adorno, who lived from 1903 to 1969. Adorno was a leading figure in the Frankfurt School of critical theory and is remembered for his works on aesthetics, social theory, and cultural criticism, including his influential book "Minima Moralia."
While the name Dresden is primarily associated with German culture and history, it has also been used in other parts of the world, though to a lesser extent. Regardless of its geographical distribution, the name Dresden carries a rich historical legacy and continues to be celebrated for its cultural significance and connection to notable figures from various fields.
People
Dresden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dresden 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
Dresden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dresden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,124 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dresden 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 304,942 US residents.
Is Dresden a common name?
We classify Dresden as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,137 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dresden most popular?
The single biggest year for Dresden was 2012, when 84 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dresden is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dresden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,054 people with the name Dresden, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,975 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 Dresden 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 Dresden?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dresden on both sides of the split. Of the 1,051 people counted with this name, 776 were male (73.8%) and 275 were female (26.2%). 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 Dresden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dresden is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Dresden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dresden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (732 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 Dresden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dresden a male name?
Yes, 83.9% of people registered as Dresden 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 Dresden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dresden 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 Dresden 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 share the name Dresden?
You can see how many Americans are named Dresden on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.