Drewry
Potentially derived from the Old English words "dryge" and "rycg," suggesting a dry ridge or ridge location.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Drewry. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Drewry today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Drewry births was 1922 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Drewry. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Drewry. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1922
6 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1990 SSA rank
#8,487
Tracked since 1922
Popularity
Drewry: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Drewry from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 6 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
Drewry 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 Drewry 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 Drewry
The name Drewry has its origins in Old English, derived from the word "dryge," meaning "dry" or "arid." It was initially a surname or a topographic name given to individuals who lived in a dry or arid area. The name can be traced back to the early medieval period, around the 5th to 11th centuries, when Old English was the predominant language spoken in parts of Britain.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Drewry can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and population in England commissioned by William the Conquer in 1086. The name appears as "Drigeworth," referring to a settlement or landholding associated with someone bearing the surname Drewry.
In the 13th century, the name Drewry appeared in various historical records and documents, such as the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, where it was spelled as "Driurie" and "Drywry." This suggests that the name gained wider usage during this period and experienced slight variations in spelling.
While the name Drewry does not appear to have any direct association with ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Drewry was Sir William Drewry (c. 1450-1522), an English landowner and Member of Parliament for Yorkshire during the reign of Henry VIII.
Another prominent figure bearing the name was Robert Drewry (1778-1832), a British merchant and philanthropist who founded the Drewry & Co. shipping company in London. He played a significant role in the development of the British shipping industry in the early 19th century.
In the 19th century, John Drewry (1840-1924) was a prominent English industrialist and entrepreneur. He founded the Drewry Car Company, which manufactured railway carriages and played a crucial role in the development of the railway industry in Britain.
Moving into the 20th century, Sir Cedric Drewry (1890-1968) was a British businessman and chairman of the Drewry Group, a conglomerate of shipping and engineering companies. He was also a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party and served as the Lord Mayor of London from 1953 to 1954.
Another notable individual with the name Drewry was William Drewry (1921-2003), a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was the chairman of the Drewry Group in Canada and made significant contributions to various charitable organizations, including the University of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
These examples showcase the historical significance and usage of the name Drewry, primarily in the English-speaking world, where it has been associated with individuals from various professions, including landowners, merchants, industrialists, and philanthropists.
People
Drewry + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Drewry 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
Drewry: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Drewry?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Drewry 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Drewry a common name?
We classify Drewry as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Drewry most popular?
The single biggest year for Drewry was 1922, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Drewry is about 37 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 Drewry in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Drewry a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Drewry 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 Drewry still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Drewry 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 Drewry 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 are named Drewry?
Want to know how many people have the name Drewry? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.