Recorded 1885–2025 · United States
Dawson was most popular in 1999, when 2,834 American babies were given the name — ranking #256 that year. In 2025 it ranked #255, with 2,568 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 54,199 people named Dawson.
Dawson first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1885, which makes it about 140 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 129 of the 141 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 54,199 American births named Dawson between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 52,488 are estimated to be alive today.
2,568 American babies were named Dawson in 2025, ranking #255 that year.
Dawson is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 2,374 births a year, against 1,192 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +99% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Dawson is a boy’s name — 2.6% of the 54,199 Americans given it were girls and 97.4% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 4% girls and 96% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 52,488 Americans named Dawson are alive today — 97% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 14 years old, and half are between 6 and 23.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Dawson on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org