Dwyane
A masculine name of Welsh origin meaning "dark-skinned, swarthy".
Name Census estimates that about 1,015 living Americans carry the first name Dwyane. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dwyane today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dwyane births was 1962 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dwyane. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 337,689 Americans
Peak year
1962
59 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,559
Tracked since 1938
Popularity
Dwyane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dwyane from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 458 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dwyane 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 Dwyane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dwyanes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Illinois, New York, California recorded the most babies named Dwyane, while Michigan, Alabama, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dwyane
The name Dwyane is a relatively modern name with no clear etymological origin or direct translation from any known language. It is likely a creative spelling variation of the more common name Duane, which is derived from the Irish surname Ó Duáin meaning "descendant of Duán."
While the name Dwyane itself does not appear in any ancient texts or historical records, the similar name Duane can be traced back to the 17th century in Ireland. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Duane was in reference to Terlogh O'Duane, an Irish chieftain who lived in County Galway in the mid-1600s.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals with the first name Dwyane, although it remains a relatively uncommon name. One of the most famous is Dwyane Wade, an American professional basketball player born in 1982 who played for the Miami Heat and won three NBA championships.
Another person named Dwyane was Dwyane Betts, an American poet and author born in 1975. He is known for his memoir, "A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison."
In the realm of sports, there was also Dwyane Buckley, a Canadian football player born in 1986 who played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League.
Dwyane Murray was an American professional basketball player born in 1966 who played in the NBA for teams like the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Additionally, Dwyane Brown was an American football player born in 1979 who played as a defensive tackle in the NFL for teams such as the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
While the name Dwyane is a relatively modern spelling variation with no clear historical roots, it has gained some popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States, likely influenced by the fame of individuals like Dwyane Wade.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dwyane
People
Dwyane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dwyane 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
Dwyane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dwyane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,015 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dwyane 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 337,689 US residents.
Is Dwyane a common name?
We classify Dwyane as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,161 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dwyane most popular?
The single biggest year for Dwyane was 1962, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dwyane is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dwyane a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dwyane 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.
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.