Find out how popular the last name Dewey is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Dewey.

Dewey, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Dewey surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dewey in America

Dewey is the 2926th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dewey surname appeared 12,249 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Dewey.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dewey to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Dewey

The surname DEWEY is of English origin and dates back to the 13th century. It is a locational name derived from the Old English word "deaw," meaning "dew," and was initially given to someone who lived near a dew pond or a particularly dewy area.

The name is found in various old records and manuscripts, including the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "de Deueie" and "de Dewi." This suggests that the name was already well-established in England before the Norman Conquest.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname is found in the Pipe Rolls of Cambridgeshire from 1186, which mentions a William de Dewy. In the 13th century, the name appears in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire as "Dewi."

The name is also associated with various place names, such as Dewey Hill in Wiltshire and Dewey Green in Hertfordshire. These locations likely took their names from someone with the surname DEWEY who lived or owned land there.

Notable individuals with the surname DEWEY throughout history include:

1. George Dewey (1837-1917), an American naval officer who led the victorious naval Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

2. John Dewey (1859-1952), an influential American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, considered one of the founders of the philosophical movement known as pragmatism.

3. Thomas Edmund Dewey (1902-1971), an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954.

4. Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), an American librarian and educator, best known for developing the Dewey Decimal Classification system for library cataloging.

5. Annie Dewey (1857-1944), an American botanist and educator, known for her work on the flora of New England and her contributions to the study of mosses.

Throughout its history, the surname DEWEY has undergone various spellings, including Dewy, Dewie, Dewye, and Duy, reflecting the regional variations and linguistic changes over time.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dewey

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Dewey.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Dewey was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Dewey has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Dewey was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Dewey, please contact us.

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