Dov
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “Bear”
Dov is the Hebrew word for bear, pressed into service as a name and kept there for centuries. It is one closed syllable — a single breath, no room for trimming — and it travels between Hebrew and English without changing a letter. Among Ashkenazi Jews it has long walked in step with its Yiddish twin, Ber, which means exactly the same thing.
How old is the name Dov?
Dov first appears in US birth records in 1949 — 76 years ago. The typical Dov alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 3,500 people named Dov are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dov most popular?
Dov peaked in 2022, reaching #1228 nationally. Today it ranks #1451, 223 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From דֹּב (Hebrew dov, 'bear') to Dov
The story of Dov
Dov (דֹּב) is simply the Hebrew noun for a bear, a word that appears throughout the Hebrew Bible in the books of Samuel, Kings and Proverbs, though never there as a person's name. It came into use as a given name among Ashkenazi Jews, where it was frequently paired with Ber, the Yiddish word for bear, producing the double name Dov Ber — borne, for instance, by Dov Ber of Mezeritch, the eighteenth-century Hasidic teacher. Modern Hebrew carried the single form forward, and it is ordinary in Israel today. In American records it has been used quietly and continuously within Jewish families, concentrated in the states with the largest of those communities.
Meaning
Bear
How the name formed
- דֹּבHebrew dov, 'bear'
- Dov
- Dov Ber
Related forms: דֹּב · Ber · Berel · Berish · Dove
Pronouncing Dov
DOHV
One syllable, rhyming with 'stove'. Some Ashkenazi speakers say it closer to DUV, rhyming with 'love'. Expect a few first-time readers to reach for 'dove', the bird.
Nicknames for Dov
High
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
- 1949
- Most boys named
- 2022160 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1228reached in 2022
- Change vs 2023
- −19.6%123 in 2025, from 153
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.
Dov in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- דֹּב in Hebrew — transliteration
- Ber in Yiddish — related form
- Berel in Yiddish — related form
- Berish in Yiddish — related form
- Dove in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Dovs among us
people named Dov are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,887 born in 2025 was named Dov
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 Tyre test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dov's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tyre climbed just as high around 1992, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tyre's path sketches the road Dov is walking now.
Dov 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 Dov is headed
Dov 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.
Dov beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dov in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, one syllable, and spelled the way it sounds — easy to write, easy to read back, hard to get badly wrong.
- Identical in Hebrew and English transliteration, so it needs no second version for travel, documents or synagogue.
- A documented meaning with no ambiguity: bear, and nothing else.
- An established affectionate form, Dovi, already in real use rather than invented on the spot.
- In continuous use among Ashkenazi Jews for centuries, and ordinary in Israel today.
- It sits close to 'dove' on the page, and some people will say the bird before they say the name. A short correction, but one repeated fairly often.
- The name reads clearly as Jewish. For many families that is precisely the point; it is worth knowing it will be legible as such in every room he enters.
- Outside the regions where it clusters, he is unlikely to meet another Dov, so he will be doing some introducing. One syllable makes that a quick job.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Dov
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #1451 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dovs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Dov are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dov in 2025?
- Dov ranks #1451 among US boy names in 2025, with 123 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dov?
- About 1 in every 13,887 US boys born in 2025 was named Dov — 123 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dov with classmates?
- Dov will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dov
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zephaniah#1451 · Demari#1451 · Ozzie#1451 · Pierson#1451 · Zamari#1451 · Osiel#1451 · Coy#1451 · Giuseppe#1459
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dov? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dov and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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