Dewan
Masculine
Dewan is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 653 boys against 16 girls since 1880.
Dewan is recorded for sons and for daughters, with rather more daughters, and it may be a Persian title, an American build or a surname. Its first syllable is a word that hides inside another one, where nobody looks for it.
How old is the name Dewan?
Dewan first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Dewan alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 600 people named Dewan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dewan most popular?
Dewan peaked in 1979, reaching #1943 nationally. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Dewan
The dew in mildew is real dew, and the mil is honey. The Old English meledeaw meant honey-dew — the sticky sweet deposit that appears on leaves, which we now know is excreted by aphids and which older observers took for a kind of dew falling from the air. The word was then transferred to the fungal growth that appears in the same damp conditions and spoils cloth, leather and crops, and the honey sense dropped out completely. Honeydew survives separately, as the aphid product and as the melon. So a word for mold is built out of a word for sweetness, by way of a mistaken theory about where sugar on a leaf comes from.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The word dewan is a real title in Persian and in South Asian administration, naming a minister or a chief officer. Whether an American family had that in mind, or built the name from a free front and ending, is not recorded.
Pronouncing Dewan
duh-WAHN
Two syllables with the stress at the back. Families reading it as the English word say DOO-wun instead, and both are heard.
Nicknames for Dewan
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
- 1962
- Most boys named
- 197927 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1943reached in 1979
- Change vs 2021
- 0.0%7 in 2024, from 7
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.
Dewans among us
people named Dewan are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Dewan sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Back stress gives a two-syllable name a firm landing.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Five letters with no silent ones make it quick to write.
- Dewaun, Dwan and Duan will all be written for it.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- The two readings stress it differently, so it is said two ways.
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Dewan
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Dewans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Dewan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dewan in 2025?
- Dewan is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Dewan with classmates?
- Dewan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
David#35 · Daniel#22 · Donald#690 · Dennis#707 · Douglas#807 · Dylan#41 · Danny#628 · Dale#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dewan? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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