Dwain
A masculine name of unknown origin but possibly derived from the Irish name Duán.
Name Census estimates that about 4,880 living Americans carry the first name Dwain. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dwain today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dwain births was 1959 (257 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dwain. 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 Dwain with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.9K
~ 1 in 70,237 Americans
Peak year
1959
257 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,257
Tracked since 1913
Census
Dwain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,473 people with the first name Dwain, which placed it at #4,249 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
#4,249
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,473 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dwain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dwain is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Dwain 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 Dwain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.6% · 2,889
- Black or African American28.8% · 1,290
- Two or more races3.1% · 137
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 97
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 24
Popularity
Dwain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dwain from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 1,698 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dwain 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 Dwain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dwains live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Dwain, while North Dakota, Maine, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 115 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dwain
The name Dwain is an English variant of the Welsh name Dwyain, which is derived from the Welsh word "dŵr" meaning "water" and the suffix "-ain" meaning "little". This suggests that the name may have originated as a nickname or descriptive term for someone who lived near a body of water or had some association with water.
The earliest recorded use of the name Dwain dates back to the late 16th century in England. It was relatively uncommon during this time period, likely due to its Welsh origins and the prevalence of more traditionally English names.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Dwain was Dwain Blaney, an English author and playwright who lived in the early 17th century. He is best known for his play "The Governor's Revenge" which was performed in London in 1636.
In the 18th century, the name Dwain appeared in the historical records of several families in the American colonies. Notable individuals from this time include Dwain Rutledge, a farmer and landowner in Virginia who was born in 1742, and Dwain Barton, a soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War and was born in 1765.
As the 19th century progressed, the name Dwain remained relatively uncommon but continued to be used sporadically in various parts of the English-speaking world. One prominent individual with the name was Dwain Esper, an American filmmaker and producer who was born in 1892 and was known for his work in the early days of horror and exploitation cinema.
In the 20th century, the name Dwain gained some popularity, particularly in the United States. One of the most famous individuals with the name was Dwain Painter, an American baseball player who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in 1920 and had a successful career as a pitcher, appearing in two World Series.
Another notable figure with the name Dwain was Dwain Mallitz, an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded the successful software company PeopleSoft in 1987. He was born in 1946 and played a significant role in the development of human resources management software.
People
Dwain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dwain 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
Dwain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dwain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,880 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dwain 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 70,237 US residents.
Is Dwain a common name?
We classify Dwain as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,581 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dwain most popular?
The single biggest year for Dwain was 1959, when 257 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dwain is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dwain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,473 people with the name Dwain, or 1.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,249 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 Dwain 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 Dwain?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dwain appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,473 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 Dwain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dwain is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Dwain most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dwain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.6% (2,889 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 Dwain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dwain a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dwain 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 Dwain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dwain 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 Dwain 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 Dwain?
You can see how many people share the name Dwain on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.