Dusti
An English feminine name derived from the word "dust".
Name Census estimates that about 1,704 living Americans carry the first name Dusti. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Dusti today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dusti births was 1980 (94 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dusti. 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 201,147 Americans
Peak year
1980
94 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1982 SSA rank
#4,330
Tracked since 1963
Census
Dusti in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,576 people with the first name Dusti, which placed it at #9,002 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
#9,002
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,576 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dusti
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dusti is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.1%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Dusti 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 Dusti at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.7% · 1,413
- Two or more races5.1% · 80
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 34
- Black or African American0.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Dusti
Out of the 1,815 babies given the name Dusti since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Dusti as a male name
- Ranked #4,330 in 1982
- 9 male births in 1982
- Peak: 1982 (9 births)
Dusti as a female name
- Ranked #9,787 in 2023
- 10 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1980 (94 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dusti leans strongly female. 1,490 people counted with this name were female (94.4%), compared with 89 male bearers (5.6%).
Popularity
Dusti: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dusti from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 604 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dusti 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 Dusti during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dustis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, California, Indiana recorded the most babies named Dusti, while Utah, Louisiana, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dusti
The name Dusti is believed to have its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Dustha," which means "strong" or "powerful." It was a common name given to male children in ancient India, reflecting the desire for the child to grow up to be strong and courageous.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dusti can be found in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this epic, Dusti was the name of a warrior who fought alongside the Pandava princes during the great war of Kurukshetra.
In the 5th century CE, there was a renowned Buddhist scholar and traveler named Dusti who hailed from the kingdom of Gandhara, located in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is known for his extensive travels across Asia, during which he documented the cultural and religious practices of the regions he visited.
During the medieval period, the name Dusti gained popularity among the ruling classes of various Indian kingdoms. One notable figure was Dusti Vikramaditya, a powerful king who ruled over the Chalukya dynasty in the 7th century CE. He was known for his military conquests and for patronizing the arts and literature.
In the 14th century, there was a famous Sufi saint and mystic named Dusti Banda Nawaz, who lived in the region of present-day Pakistan. He is revered for his teachings on spirituality and for his contributions to the spread of Islam in the region.
Another prominent figure with the name Dusti was Dusti Khan, a military commander who served under the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 16th century. He was known for his bravery and strategic skills on the battlefield, and played a crucial role in several military campaigns during Akbar's reign.
While the name Dusti has its roots in ancient India, its popularity has transcended cultural and geographical boundaries over the centuries, making it a name with a rich and diverse history.
People
Dusti + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dusti 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
Dusti: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dusti?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,704 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dusti 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 201,147 US residents.
Is Dusti a common name?
We classify Dusti as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,815 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dusti most popular?
The single biggest year for Dusti was 1980, when 94 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dusti is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dusti in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,576 people with the name Dusti, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,002 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 Dusti 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 Dusti?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dusti leans strongly female. 1,490 people counted with this name were female (94.4%), compared with 89 male bearers (5.6%). 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 Dusti?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dusti is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.1%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Dusti most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dusti in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.7% (1,413 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 Dusti in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dusti a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Dusti in the SSA data are female. 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 Dusti still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dusti 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 Dusti 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 Dusti?
Want to know how many people have the name Dusti? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.