Dawson
Masculine · “son of Daw”
Dawson is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 52,802 boys against 1,397 girls since 1880. See Dawson as a girl name
Dawson began as a family name, the kind carried on parish rolls and ship manifests, and behind it sits one of the oldest names in the book: Daw was how medieval England shortened David. It has been on the American record since the late nineteenth century, and it also names places — Dawson City in the Yukon, Dawson Creek in British Columbia — so the sound has been at home on maps as well as in classrooms.
How old is the name Dawson?
Dawson first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Dawson alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 51,000 people named Dawson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dawson most popular?
Dawson peaked in 1999, reaching #136 nationally. Today it ranks #143, 7 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Where it comes from
From David to Dawson
The story of Dawson
Dawson is an English surname, formed the same way as Jackson and Wilson: a father's pet name plus -son. The father's name here was Daw, the everyday medieval English clipping of David, which also gave the surnames Dawes and Dawkins. Like many British surnames, it crossed into American use as a given name in the nineteenth century and has appeared on the record ever since, never vanishing and never dominating. A television series that aired in the late 1990s and early 2000s put the name in front of a very large audience, and the chart beside you shows the shape of what followed.
Meaning
son of Daw — Daw being a medieval English pet form of David
David itself is Hebrew, generally read as 'beloved', so Dawson sits at the far end of a very long chain.
How the name formed
- David
- Daw
- Dawson
Related forms: Dawes · Dawkins · Davidson · David
Pronouncing Dawson
DAW-sun
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with Lawson. Spelling and sound match each other, so it is rarely misheard once said.
Nicknames for Dawson
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 19992,802 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #136reached in 1999
- Change vs 2022
- +21.5%2,487 in 2025, from 2,047
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dawson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dawes in English — related form
- Dawkins in English — related form
- Davidson in English — related form
- David in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, Florida.
Dawsons among us
people named Dawson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 687 born in 2025 was named Dawson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kent test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dawson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kent climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kent's path sketches the road Dawson is walking now.
Dawson is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Dawson is headed
Dawson should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Dawson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dawson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Says itself: anyone who reads it aloud gets it right the first time, and anyone who hears it can spell it.
- An unbroken presence on American records since the nineteenth century — familiar without ever having been a fad name.
- Descends from David, so it quietly carries a name with several thousand years behind it.
- Fits the well-established -son surname pattern, which sounds current alongside Jackson, Mason and Emerson.
- Recognized as a place name in North America, which gives it a second, geographic kind of familiarity.
- For anyone who watched late-1990s television, the name arrives attached to a teen drama set in a Massachusetts creek town. That association fades with each passing year, but it is still live for some adults.
- The -son ending is crowded right now. In a room full of Jacksons, Masons and Graysons, Dawson blends in by sound even though the name itself is much less common.
- Short forms are thin. Daws works, but most Dawsons go by the full two syllables, which is fine if you like the whole name and limiting if you wanted options.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Dawson
Masculine · #143 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dawsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 51,000 people named Dawson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dawson in 2025?
- Dawson ranks #143 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,487 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dawson?
- About 1 in every 687 US boys born in 2025 was named Dawson — 2,487 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dawson with classmates?
- Dawson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dawson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zion#142 · Luis#144 · Beckett#141 · Charlie#145 · Nathaniel#140 · Matteo#146 · Declan#139 · Elian#147
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dawson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dawson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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