Dewey
Dewey is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 31 births. Its best rank was 19th, in 1898.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 310.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 18981,115 births
- Best rank
- #19in 1898
- Since 1887
- 34,345people given the name
The story in the numbers
34,345 boys have been named Dewey in the United States since 1887, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1898, with 1,115 births — 0.91% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 31 births in 2024, against 1,115 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1936, and the 1920s alone account for 21%. It has spent 99 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 3 of them in the top 100.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Dewey | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 25 | |
| 1890s | 1,921 | |
| 1900s | 1,320 | |
| 1910s | 2,960 | |
| 1920s | 7,224 | |
| 1930s | 5,328 | |
| 1940s | 5,372 | |
| 1950s | 3,831 | |
| 1960s | 2,627 | |
| 1970s | 1,635 | |
| 1980s | 922 | |
| 1990s | 492 | |
| 2000s | 317 | |
| 2010s | 233 | |
| 2020s | 138 |
In 1898, its biggest year
Dewey was the 19th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1898 were John, William, James, George and Charles. See all of 1898.
Names that rose and fell with Dewey
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Hobartpeak 1921
- Jenningspeak 1926
- Hobertpeak 1922
- Gloverpeak 1915
- Simmiepeak 1918
- Toypeak 1919
- Murrypeak 1917
- Barnettpeak 1923
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.