Dewey
Feminine · “dark”
Dewey is given to boys far more often — 34,373 boys against 547 girls since 1880. See Dewey as a boy name
Dewey for a daughter came from a naval victory. American families named children for Admiral Dewey after Manila Bay in 1898, and the registers show girls as well as boys.
How old is the name Dewey?
Dewey first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Dewey alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Dewey are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Dewey most popular?
Dewey peaked in 1898, reaching #305 nationally. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dewi to Dewey
The story of Dewey
George Dewey destroyed the Spanish squadron at Manila Bay on 1 May 1898 without losing a man, and he became briefly the most celebrated figure in America. The registers show his surname appearing as a given name for both sexes that year and the next, peaking sharply in 1898 for girls as well as boys, then falling away almost as quickly.
Meaningscholars disagree
dark
The surname Dewey is generally read from the Welsh Dewi, the Welsh form of David and the name of the patron saint of Wales — David itself being the Hebrew for 'beloved'. A competing account derives it from a French place name. The Welsh route is the commoner reading.
How the name formed
- Dewi
- Dewey
Related forms: Dewi · Duey
Pronouncing Dewey
DOO-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically whichever sex carries it.
Nicknames for Dewey
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
- 1897
- Most girls named
- 1898104 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #305reached in 1898
- Change vs 1950
- −16.7%5 in 1956, from 6
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.
Dewey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dewi in Welsh — related form
- Duey in English — spelling variant
Deweys among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Dewey are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Dewey 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
- The Welsh Dewi behind it is the name of a national patron saint.
- It carries one of the sharpest documented naming spikes in the American records.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- In modern English the name reads as masculine.
- The 1898 association is the only reason it has a feminine chart history.
- It is sharply dated to the turn of the last century.
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Dewey
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Deweys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Dewey are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Dewey in 2025?
- Dewey is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Dewey with classmates?
- Dewey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dewey? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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