Dove
Feminine · Old English roots · “the bird”
Dove is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,436 girls against 37 boys since 1880.
Dove is one of the older words in English still in daily use, and it has been doing double duty as a name for centuries — as a surname in Britain and then as a given name in America. It is a single syllable that rhymes with love, spelled the way everyone already spells the bird. After a long quiet stretch, it is being given to babies again, and the people carrying it now are overwhelmingly small.
How old is the name Dove?
Dove was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Dove is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,100 people named Dove are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dove most popular?
Dove peaked in 1880, reaching #628 nationally. Today it ranks #1484, 856 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Where it comes from
From dūfe (Old English) to Dove
The story of Dove
The word itself is Germanic: Old English dūfe became Middle English douve and then dove, and the bird carried a great deal of symbolic weight along the way. In Genesis, Noah sends out a dove that returns with an olive leaf; in the Gospels, the Spirit descends at Jesus's baptism like a dove — which is why the bird became a fixed emblem of peace and of the Holy Spirit in Christian art. Dove appears first as an English surname, taken from the bird, and only later as a given name, which is the pattern behind a great many English word-names. Its American life as a first name has been continuous but small, on the books early and never entirely gone.
Meaning
the bird; a dove
The English word comes from Old English dūfe. "My dove" has also worked as a term of endearment in English for many centuries, including in English translations of the Song of Songs.
How the name formed
- dūfeOld English
- douveMiddle English
- DoveEnglish surname
- Dovegiven name
Related forms: Columba · Paloma · Colombe · Colomba · Yonah · Colm
Pronouncing Dove
DUV
One syllable, rhyming with love and glove — not with stove. Anyone who knows the English bird will say it correctly; readers coming from another language often guess DOHV first.
Nicknames for Dove
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 2025144 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #628reached in 1880
- Change vs 2023
- +61.8%144 in 2025, from 89
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.
Dove in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Columba in Latin — related form
- Paloma in Spanish — related form
- Colombe in French — related form
- Colomba in Italian — related form
- Yonah in Hebrew — related form
- Colm in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Doves among us
people named Dove are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,162 born in 2025 was named Dove
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
Dove 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 Dove is headed
Dove is on a steep climb — if the curve holds, 2030 could see around 60% more babies given the name than today. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Dove beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dove in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled as a common English word, so it is never misspelled once heard — the only uncertainty runs the other way, from page to voice.
- One syllable, which sits easily in front of almost any longer middle or last name.
- A meaning that needs no explaining in English, and clear equivalents in other languages: Paloma, Colombe, Yonah.
- Long documented use as an English surname and given name, so it is a revival rather than a coinage.
- Dove is also a very well-known soap and chocolate brand in the US. Most people won't say anything, but the association exists and is worth hearing out loud before you decide.
- Because the spelling doesn't announce its own sound, expect an occasional DOHV from someone reading it cold — a one-second correction, repeated over a lifetime.
- It is rare enough that a child will likely be the only one anywhere in their school, which cuts both ways: no last-initial, but a fair amount of "like the bird?"
- Nearly everyone carrying it right now is a young child, so it reads as distinctly current company rather than as a name shared across generations.
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What they receive
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Dove
Feminine · Old English roots · #1484 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Doves are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Dove are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dove in 2025?
- Dove ranks #1484 among US girl names in 2025, with 144 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dove?
- About 1 in every 11,162 US girls born in 2025 was named Dove — 144 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dove with classmates?
- Dove will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dove
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Anora#1484 · Aranza#1484 · Zaynab#1484 · Rivky#1484 · Lakyn#1484 · Amiah#1484 · Miah#1484 · Junie#1484
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dove? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dove and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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