How common is the name David?

2,813,017 people in the United States have the first name David, about 1 in 107. It ranks #4 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

DAVID

#4

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
2,813,017
About
1 in 107
This common or more
4.1%
Who bears it

Of the 2,813,017 people named David, 76.4% reported their origin as White, 12.8% as Hispanic or Latino and 5.6% as Black. Virtually all are male (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

David peaked in 1955, when 86,454 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1955
Births that year
86,454
In 2025*
6,801 ▼92%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 3,689,613 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

David by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1960s, when it ranked #2. The largest share of babies named David, 37.9%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1880s#687,589
1890s#1047,361
1900s#1108,661
1910s#7144,080
1920s#4389,233
1930s#18165,376
1940s#8427,414
1950s#5771,543
1960s#2736,477
1970s#5448,198
1980s#7386,222
1990s#14254,460
2000s#15180,435
2010s#26116,900
2020s#4345,664
Before 19010.4%
Greatest Generation 1901–273.2%
Silent Generation 1928–4510.7%
Baby boom 1946–6437.9%
Generation X 1965–8022.2%
Millennials 1981–9614.5%
Generation Z 1997–127.7%
2013 and later3.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where David is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, David has been most common in Rhode Island (1.5×), Delaware (1.3×), and Vermont (1.3×), and least common in Mississippi (0.72×).

3,661,209 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of David

#2 John · 3,125,123#3 James · 2,996,421#5 Robert · 2,759,339#6 William · 2,240,114

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of David, most common first.

#5,348 Davida · 3,230#9,402 Davide · 1,478#11,903 Davit · 1,061#15,863 Davd · 719#22,206 Davyd · 450#27,622 Daved · 330#39,641 Dabid · 190#39,915 Daviid · 188

Also a last name

As a last name, David ranks #732 of 156,621, with 45,954 people. See David as a last name

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