Dru
A diminutive form of the masculine name Andrew, meaning "manly".
Name Census estimates that about 4,220 living Americans carry the first name Dru. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Dru today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dru births was 2004 (152 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dru. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Dru with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Dru sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 81,221 Americans
Peak year
2004
152 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,373
Tracked since 1943
Census
Dru in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,637 people with the first name Dru, which placed it at #4,908 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
#4,908
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,637 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dru
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dru is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (11.7%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Dru 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 Dru at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.7% · 2,607
- Black or African American11.7% · 426
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 248
- Two or more races6.0% · 218
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 75
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 63
Gender
Gender distribution for Dru
Dru is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,552 total registrations, 2,729 (60.0%) were male and 1,823 (40.0%) were female.
Dru as a male name
- Ranked #2,373 in 2024
- 59 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (99 births)
Dru as a female name
- Ranked #3,399 in 2024
- 46 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (80 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dru on both sides of the split. Of the 3,637 people counted with this name, 2,134 were male (58.7%) and 1,503 were female (41.3%).
Popularity
Dru: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dru from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 850 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Dru remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dru 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 Dru during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Drus live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Dru, while Oklahoma, Maryland, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dru
The name Dru has its origins in the ancient French language, derived from the Old French word "dru," meaning "hardy" or "vigorous." It emerged as a given name during the medieval period in France, around the 12th or 13th century.
The name Dru is believed to have been initially used as a nickname or descriptive term for someone who was physically strong or robust. Over time, it transitioned into a formal given name, particularly popular among the French nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dru can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem "La Chanson de Roland," where it is mentioned as the name of a knight. This literary reference suggests that the name had already gained some recognition and usage during that era.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Dru. One of the earliest was Dru de Melun (c. 1175 - c. 1234), a French nobleman and military leader who participated in the Fourth Crusade and the Albigensian Crusade. Another early figure was Dru Boutteville (c. 1595 - 1670), a French aristocrat and courtier during the reign of Louis XIII.
In the 19th century, Dru Drury (1725 - 1804) was an English entomologist and author of the influential work "Illustrations of Natural History." Additionally, Dru Gladney (1936 - 2022) was an American anthropologist and scholar of Chinese ethnic minorities, known for his expertise on the Uyghur people.
More recently, Dru Hill (formed in 1992) is the name of an American R&B vocal group, best known for their hit songs "In My Bed" and "How Deep Is Your Love." While the group's name is not directly related to the given name Dru, it has contributed to the name's recognition and contemporary usage.
People
Dru + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dru 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
Dru: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dru?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,220 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dru 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 81,221 US residents.
Is Dru a common name?
We classify Dru as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,552 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dru most popular?
The single biggest year for Dru was 2004, when 152 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dru is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dru in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,637 people with the name Dru, or 1.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,908 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 Dru 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 Dru?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dru on both sides of the split. Of the 3,637 people counted with this name, 2,134 were male (58.7%) and 1,503 were female (41.3%). 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 Dru?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dru is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (11.7%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Dru most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dru in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.7% (2,607 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 Dru in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dru a male name?
Yes, 60.0% of people registered as Dru 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 Dru still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dru 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 Dru 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 called Dru?
You can see how many Americans are named Dru on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.