Dewey
Masculine · “from a surname”
Dewey is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 34,373 boys against 547 girls since 1880. See Dewey as a girl name
Dewey is a surname that became a first name on the strength of a single naval victory. It is short, open and unfussy, of a kind that was once far more common for boys than it is now.
How old is the name Dewey?
Dewey first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Dewey alive today was born around 1935, making them about 90 years old. About 12,000 people named Dewey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dewey most popular?
Dewey peaked in 1898, reaching #19 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 3,829 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dewi to Dewey
The story of Dewey
This is a name that arrived through the newspapers. An American admiral's squadron destroyed a Spanish fleet at Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War, and for a season his surname was on every front page in the country. American parents have always been willing to take a hero's surname straight to the font, and they did it here on a scale that shows plainly in the birth records: the name arrives, spikes, and then recedes as the headlines do. It is one of the clearest examples in the whole dataset of a name entering a country through fame rather than through family.
Meaningscholars disagree
from a surname, most often traced to the Welsh form of David
Two readings compete. The surname is most often derived from Dewi, the Welsh form of David, whose own root is a Hebrew word usually read as 'beloved'. It is also traced to an English place-name origin, roughly 'the enclosure'. Neither reading has won, and the name reached America as a surname either way.
How the name formed
- Dewi
- Dewey
Related forms: Dewi
Pronouncing Dewey
DOO-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. It is said the same way as the dew on grass followed by a long e.
Nicknames for Dewey
Limited
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
- 1887
- Most boys named
- 18981,115 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #19reached in 1898
- Change vs 2022
- +47.4%28 in 2025, from 19
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
Deweys among us
people named Dewey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Dewey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Dewey sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Dewey is headed
Dewey 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.
Dewey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dewey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, phonetic and impossible to mispronounce once seen written.
- It works as a first name or as a middle name honoring a family surname, which is how a good many boys received it.
- The vowel sounds are open and carry well across a room, which matters more for a called name than people expect.
- The name is tied to one moment in American history, and for readers who know that moment it will always point there rather than at the child.
- It reads as a nickname to many English speakers, which can mean a lifetime of being asked what it is short for.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Dewey to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Dewey? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Dewey
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
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. About 12,000 people named Dewey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dewey in 2025?
- Dewey ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dewey?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Dewey — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dewey with classmates?
- Dewey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dewey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Stafford#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Naftuli#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dewey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dewey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle