Dean — #142 US boys' name
190,040 babies named Dean in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1961. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 99.0% of names given to boys today.
22% of everyone ever named Dean was born in this single decade.
4,931 babies were named Dean in 1961 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Dean
The Social Security Administration has registered 190,040 babies named Dean between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Dean currently holds the #142 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1961, when 4,931 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Dean performed strongest in the 1960s, accumulating 42,523 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Dean shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in California, which accounts for 18,444 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by New York and Pennsylvania. In total, SSA state-level files list Dean in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Dean in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 190,040 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Dean at a glance
Top 1,000 boys' namePeak year
Current rank
Active since
Dean popularity over time — boys
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (1961)
- 4,931
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently ranks #142 among boys.
190,040 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1961 with 4,931 births in a single year.
Dean popularity over time — girls
2,908 total births recorded since 1884 (Dean as girls' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The girls' variant of Dean accounts for 2% of total recorded use across both genders.
Dean by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- 42,523 births that decade — 22% of Dean's all-time total
Dean decade highlights
- Peak decade 42,523 births
- Runner-up 34,587 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1960s was Dean's strongest decade
42,523 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 22% of all-time use.
Dean by state
Where Dean concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | | 18,444 | 9.7% |
| #2 | New York | | 12,445 | 6.5% |
| #3 | Pennsylvania | | 11,318 | 6.0% |
| #4 | Illinois | | 10,616 | 5.6% |
| #5 | Ohio | | 10,514 | 5.5% |
| #6 | Michigan | | 9,600 | 5.1% |
| #7 | Minnesota | | 8,805 | 4.6% |
| #8 | Wisconsin | | 8,356 | 4.4% |
18,444 of 190,040 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- California 9.7% of nationwide
- New York 6.5% of nationwide
- Pennsylvania 6.0% of nationwide
- Illinois 5.6% of nationwide
- Ohio 5.5% of nationwide
Recorded in 51 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
California accounts for 9.7% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
Dean appears in 51 states. Explore state details →
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.