Doctor
Doctor was last recorded in 1951, when 6 babies were given it; 379 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1951 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Doctor by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Doctor?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #3,439, in 1951; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
17 babies in 1920, the peak
Doctor peaked in 1920, when 17 boys were given it, #1,978 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 6 | #3,439 | under 0.01 |
| 1938 | 5 | #3,651 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,245 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,031 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #3,905 | under 0.01 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,173 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,682 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,441 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 6 | #3,878 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 11 | #2,610 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (43)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | 12 | #2,470 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,377 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 10 | #2,805 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 11 | #2,670 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,848 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 17 | #1,978 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 13 | #2,291 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,089 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 16 | #1,917 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 8 | #2,982 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 10 | #2,490 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,627 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,320 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,090 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 5 | #1,807 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,315 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 8 | #981 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,033 | 0.05 |
| 1897 | 9 | #742 | 0.08 |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,012 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 7 | #900 | 0.06 |
| 1893 | 6 | #936 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 12 | #610 | 0.10 |
| 1891 | 8 | #718 | 0.08 |
| 1890 | 11 | #610 | 0.10 |
| 1888 | 8 | #764 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 8 | #701 | 0.08 |
| 1886 | 7 | #783 | 0.06 |
| 1885 | 5 | #974 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 12 | #551 | 0.10 |
| 1883 | 7 | #742 | 0.07 |
| 1882 | 8 | #716 | 0.07 |
| 1880 | 10 | #611 | 0.09 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Doctor a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Doctor has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 43 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Doctor: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Doctor, and how old are they?
An estimated 8 Americans named Doctor and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 766 people named Doctor (134 women and girls, 632 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 17 born in the U.S. The Census count is 45.1 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Doctor
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 Doctor and names like it
- Compare Doctor and LemBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sDoctor peaked in 1920.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Doctor since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Doctor.
- Names starting with DMost given first.