Head to head · Girls' names
Dallas vs Drew
#686 vs #705 in 2025
Dallas is a whisker ahead (#686 vs #705 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Dallas is holding its place on the charts, Drew is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Drew has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Dallas leads 5 measures of 6; Drew leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1890s: Dallas #1264, Drew — — Dallas higher
- 1900s: Dallas #1287, Drew — — Dallas higher
- 1910s: Dallas #1235, Drew #3869 — Dallas higher
- 1920s: Dallas #1283, Drew #4716 — Dallas higher
- 1930s: Dallas #1332, Drew #4266 — Dallas higher
- 1940s: Dallas #1570, Drew #4174 — Dallas higher
- 1950s: Dallas #1725, Drew #3474 — Dallas higher
- 1960s: Dallas #2287, Drew #4621 — Dallas higher
- 1970s: Dallas #1792, Drew #7362 — Dallas higher
- 1980s: Dallas #1318, Drew #2493 — Dallas higher
- 1990s: Dallas #804, Drew #1039 — Dallas higher
- 2000s: Dallas #1144, Drew #1091 — Drew higher
- 2010s: Dallas #724, Drew #1213 — Dallas higher
- 2020s: Dallas #645, Drew #794 — Dallas higher
Dallas stood higher in 13 of 14 decades; Dallas has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Dallas | Drew |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1264 | — |
| 1900s | #1287 | — |
| 1910s | #1235 | #3869 |
| 1920s | #1283 | #4716 |
| 1930s | #1332 | #4266 |
| 1940s | #1570 | #4174 |
| 1950s | #1725 | #3474 |
| 1960s | #2287 | #4621 |
| 1970s | #1792 | #7362 |
| 1980s | #1318 | #2493 |
| 1990s | #804 | #1039 |
| 2000s | #1144 | #1091 |
| 2010s | #724 | #1213 |
| 2020s | #645 | #794 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Dallas
most likely 'meadow dwelling' or 'meadow by the waterfall'
The Scottish place name behind it is read two ways. One reading takes it from Brythonic or Pictish elements meaning roughly 'meadow' and 'dwelling'; the other from Gaelic dail ('meadow, haugh') with eas ('waterfall'). Both point at low green ground beside water, which is why the two readings sit together comfortably rather than canceling each other out.
Dallas (lands in Moray, Scotland) → Dolays (medieval Scottish surname) → Dallas (Scottish surname) → Dallas (given name)
How it traveled
The lands of Dallas lie in Moray, and by the medieval period a family had taken their name from them, appearing in Scottish records in forms such as Dolays before settling into the modern spelling. Emigration carried the surname to North America, where — as happened to Scottish surnames generally — it began to be handed out as a first name.
Drew
man, from the Greek for "man"
Drew carries the meaning of Andrew, from Greek Andreas, built on andr-, "man". The English surname Drew has a separate and less certain history, tied to the Norman personal name Drogo.
Andreas → Andrew → Drew
How it traveled
Drew began as a clipped form of Andrew, the English version of Greek Andreas — the name the Greek New Testament gives to one of the fishermen among the twelve apostles, which is why it spread across Christian Europe in dozens of shapes. Medieval English speakers habitually trimmed the front off long names, and Andrew gave up its first syllable the way Nicholas gave up its last.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Dallas
DAL-us
Stress on the first syllable. The second is an unstressed 'us' or 'is' depending on region; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
- Dal — The usual clipped form, informal and mostly spoken rather than written.
- Dally — An affectionate family form, used more with small children than with adults.
Drew
DROO
One syllable, rhyming with "true". The same in American and British English, and easy for speakers of most other languages to approximate.
- Dru — A spelling variant used informally, and also given as a name on its own; indistinguishable from Drew when spoken.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Dallas if you want…
- a name most people already know#686 in 2025, 413 babies that year
- a name holding steadyDallas is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itDallas runs 2 syllables, Drew 1
Choose Drew if you want…
- a name fewer children share#705 in 2025 — drew will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 238 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesDrew is 1 syllable to Dallas's 2
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Dallas
Strengths
- Unbroken presence in American records since the earliest years of national name statistics — long familiarity, without ever having been a crowd.
- A spelling nobody has to be told twice: the city has taught it to every English speaker.
- Given to both boys and girls, so the name itself needs no adjustment either way.
To consider
- The place association is unavoidable. Most people will think of the Texas city, the football team, or the television series that ran from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, and some will hear the city's link to the Kennedy assassination.
- Strongest in Texas, Georgia and California — inside Texas especially, the name and the city are hard to separate, which may read as local pride or as a lot to carry.
- It leans boy in the records. A girl named Dallas is in a real but smaller group, and may occasionally be assumed a boy on paper before she is met in person.
Drew
Strengths
- One syllable and four letters, spelled the way an ordinary English word is spelled — rarely misheard, almost never misspelled once heard.
- Works as a full legal name or as the short form of Andrew, so a child can grow into either without paperwork.
- Recorded continuously in American births across every shift in naming fashion, so it reads as neither new nor dated.
To consider
- It leans to boys without settling there, so a girl named Drew will occasionally be read as male on forms, rosters and email before anyone meets her. Most families find this a small, manageable friction rather than a problem.
- There is no shorter form and no obvious affectionate variant — Drew is already the nickname. Some parents choose Andrew on the certificate to keep a longer option in reserve.
- It is also the past tense of "draw", which means autocorrect and casual readers occasionally treat it as a verb. In speech this never comes up.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Dallas and Drew in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Dallas and Drew?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Dallas and Drew each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Dallas or Drew — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Dallas or Drew?
- Dallas, in 2025: Dallas ranked #686 with 413 babies; Drew ranked #705 with 399 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Dallas or Drew?
- Drew. Over the last five years Dallas moved down 54 places; Drew moved up 238 places.
- Which is the older name, Dallas or Drew?
- Dallas entered the US charts in 1892; Drew entered the US charts in 1918. On the American record, Dallas is the older name.
- How many people are named Dallas and Drew?
- About 14,500 people named Dallas are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,300 people named Drew are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Dallass or Drews in the classroom?
- Dallas will almost certainly be the only one in school. Drew will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Dallas, Drew and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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