Dustin
A masculine name of English origin meaning "brave voyager".
Name Census estimates that about 200,876 living Americans carry the first name Dustin. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Dustin today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dustin births was 1985 (10,520 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dustin. 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 Dustin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Dustin is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,380 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Dustin have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
201K
~ 1 in 1,706 Americans
Peak year
1985
10,520 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#685
Tracked since 1916
Census
Dustin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 171,393 people with the first name Dustin, which placed it at #326 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
#326
National first-name rank
People counted
171K
171,393 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
56.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dustin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dustin is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.8%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Dustin 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 Dustin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.2% · 151,174
- Two or more races3.8% · 6,512
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 6,400
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 2,688
- Black or African American1.5% · 2,559
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2,060
Gender
Gender distribution for Dustin
Out of the 209,352 babies given the name Dustin since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Dustin as a male name
- Ranked #685 in 2024
- 394 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (10,439 births)
Dustin as a female name
- Ranked #15,793 in 2009
- 6 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1986 (110 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dustin appears almost entirely male. Of the 171,388 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Dustin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dustin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 98,154 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
Dustin 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 Dustin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dustins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Dustin, while District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,051 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dustin
The given name Dustin originated from the Old English name Dustan, which was derived from the Old English words "dust" meaning "brave" and "stan" meaning "stone." It was a popular name among the Anglo-Saxons during the medieval period, particularly in the regions of modern-day England.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Dustin can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in various spellings, such as Dustan and Duisten, indicating its widespread use at the time.
In the 12th century, Dustin gained significance as the name of Saint Dustin, an English monk and scholar who lived from 1109 to 1186. Saint Dustin was renowned for his writings on theology and philosophy, and his name became associated with wisdom and learning.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Dustin. One of the earliest was Dustin the Martyr, an English Christian who was executed for his faith during the reign of Diocletian in the early 4th century. Another notable figure was Dustin of Winchester, a 9th-century scholar and abbot who played a significant role in the intellectual revival of the Carolingian Renaissance.
In the realm of literature, Dustin Chaucer (c. 1340-1400) was a renowned English poet and author, best known for his iconic work, "The Canterbury Tales." His contemporaries referred to him as the "Father of English Poetry," and his works had a lasting impact on the English literary tradition.
During the Renaissance period, Dustin Michelangelo (1475-1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet who is widely regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. His masterpieces, such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the statue of David, have become iconic symbols of the Renaissance era.
In more recent times, Dustin Hoffman (born 1937) is an acclaimed American actor and director who has won numerous awards, including two Academy Awards, for his performances in films such as "The Graduate," "Kramer vs. Kramer," and "Rain Man."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dustin
People
Dustin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dustin 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
Dustin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dustin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 200,876 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dustin 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 1,706 US residents.
Is Dustin a common name?
We classify Dustin as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 209,352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dustin most popular?
The single biggest year for Dustin was 1985, when 10,520 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dustin is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dustin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 171,393 people with the name Dustin, or 56.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #326 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 Dustin 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 Dustin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dustin appears almost entirely male. Of the 171,388 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Dustin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dustin is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.8%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Dustin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dustin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (151,174 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 Dustin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dustin a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Dustin 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 Dustin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dustin 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 Dustin 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 have the name Dustin?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Dustin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.