first name
DAWSON
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 36,417 people named Dawson, 86.6% reported their origin as White, 4.6% as two or more races and 3.8% as Hispanic or Latino. 97.6% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Dawson peaked in 1999, when 2,834 babies got the name.
At least 54,199 babies have been given the name since 1885. 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.
Dawson by decade
Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2020s, when it ranked #296. The largest share of babies named Dawson, 47.8%, were born in 2013 or later.
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 Dawson is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Dawson has been most common in Alaska (4.1×), Idaho (3.2×), and South Dakota (2.9×), and least common in Connecticut (0.2×).
50,336 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 Dawson
Spelled almost the same
5 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Dawson, most common first.
Also a last name
As a last name, Dawson ranks #386 of 156,621, with 80,960 people. See Dawson as a last name
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