Dash
Dash was given to 207 boys in 2025, #1,056 among boys’ names; 4,384 Americans have been recorded with it since 1984 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,350 Americans named Dash and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 8 years old and half are between 5 and 12.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dash by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dash mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dash is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “(residing) near an ash tree” (æsċ).
From Old French de + Old English æsċ “(residing) near an ash tree”.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dash?
#1,056 among boys’ names, 2025
Dash fell from #769 in 2015 to #1,056 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.16 to 0.12 per 1,000.
327 babies in 2017, the peak
Dash peaked in 2017, when 327 babies were given it (322 boys, #741 among boys’ names). The 207 births of 2025 are 63% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 207 | #1,056 | 0.12 |
| 2024 | 238 | #955 | 0.14 |
| 2023 | 260 | #893 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 301 | #826 | 0.17 |
| 2021 | 311 | #791 | 0.18 |
| 2020 | 291 | #797 | 0.17 |
| 2019 | 318 | #751 | 0.18 |
| 2018 | 292 | #784 | 0.16 |
| 2017 | 322 | #741 | 0.17 |
| 2016 | 307 | #777 | 0.16 |
Every recorded year (31)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 310 | #769 | 0.16 |
| 2014 | 224 | #939 | 0.12 |
| 2013 | 158 | #1,146 | 0.08 |
| 2012 | 146 | #1,218 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 135 | #1,272 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 123 | #1,372 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 82 | #1,810 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 74 | #1,938 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 49 | #2,540 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 46 | #2,590 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 35 | #2,966 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 7 | #9,153 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,012 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 6 | #9,627 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 8 | #7,687 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 8 | #7,586 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 8 | #7,299 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 5 | #8,681 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 5 | #8,149 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 7 | #5,893 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 6 | #5,732 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dash a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 4,384 Americans recorded as Dash, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 207 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Dash: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dash, and how old are they?
4,350 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 4,384 Americans ever recorded as Dash. The median Dash alive today is 8 years old; half are between 5 and 12.
The 2020 Census counted 2,792 people named Dash (101 women and girls, 2,691 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,803 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 22 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 733 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,590 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Dash born?
The states with the most babies named Dash are California, Texas and Georgia, with 33% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 21 | #1,018 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 16 | #1,259 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 13 | #721 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 13 | #674 | 0.7× |
| Louisiana | 12 | #404 | 2.0× |
| Illinois | 12 | #721 | 0.8× |
| New York | 10 | #1,143 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 9 | #879 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 7 | #1,056 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 6 | #1,681 | 0.9× |
Where Dash is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dash is most over-represented in Utah: since 1984 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Dash with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Dash
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Dash and names like it
- Compare Dash and KiyanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sDash peaked in 2017.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dash since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Dash: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Dash.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Dash alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with DMost given first.