Dov
Dov was given to 123 boys in 2025, #1,453 among boys’ names; 3,623 Americans have been recorded with it since 1949 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,490 Americans named Dov and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 7 and 30.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dov by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dov mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dov is “a male given name of Hebrew usage.” Its etymology gives the sense “bear” (דוב).
Hebrew דוב (dov, “bear”)
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dov?
#1,453 among boys’ names, 2025
Dov fell from #1,435 in 2015 to #1,453 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 62.1 to 72.0 per million.
160 babies in 2022, the peak
Dov peaked in 2022, when 160 boys were given it, #1,230 among boys’ names. The 123 births of 2025 are 77% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 123 | #1,453 | 72.0 |
| 2024 | 137 | #1,372 | 79.5 |
| 2023 | 153 | #1,259 | 89.4 |
| 2022 | 160 | #1,230 | 91.6 |
| 2021 | 143 | #1,310 | 81.7 |
| 2020 | 115 | #1,480 | 66.6 |
| 2019 | 134 | #1,341 | 74.7 |
| 2018 | 115 | #1,501 | 63.3 |
| 2017 | 118 | #1,451 | 63.8 |
| 2016 | 142 | #1,281 | 74.8 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 119 | #1,435 | 62.1 |
| 2014 | 98 | #1,599 | 51.0 |
| 2013 | 86 | #1,714 | 45.5 |
| 2012 | 94 | #1,640 | 49.6 |
| 2011 | 98 | #1,580 | 51.6 |
| 2010 | 75 | #1,902 | 39.1 |
| 2009 | 81 | #1,829 | 40.8 |
| 2008 | 54 | #2,384 | 26.5 |
| 2007 | 75 | #1,897 | 36.1 |
| 2006 | 71 | #1,899 | 34.5 |
| 2005 | 55 | #2,187 | 27.5 |
| 2004 | 58 | #2,054 | 29.2 |
| 2003 | 53 | #2,106 | 26.8 |
| 2002 | 51 | #2,098 | 26.3 |
| 2001 | 62 | #1,799 | 31.9 |
| 2000 | 45 | #2,199 | 22.9 |
| 1999 | 53 | #1,862 | 27.6 |
| 1998 | 36 | #2,403 | 18.8 |
| 1997 | 23 | #3,187 | 12.2 |
| 1996 | 35 | #2,305 | 18.5 |
| 1995 | 38 | #2,143 | 20.0 |
| 1994 | 29 | #2,565 | 15.0 |
| 1993 | 32 | #2,361 | 16.3 |
| 1992 | 34 | #2,222 | 17.0 |
| 1991 | 27 | #2,558 | 13.4 |
| 1990 | 36 | #2,049 | 17.5 |
| 1989 | 29 | #2,307 | 14.5 |
| 1988 | 34 | #1,913 | 17.8 |
| 1987 | 24 | #2,347 | 12.9 |
| 1986 | 26 | #2,176 | 14.1 |
| 1985 | 36 | #1,704 | 19.5 |
| 1984 | 29 | #1,897 | 16.1 |
| 1983 | 25 | #2,106 | 13.9 |
| 1982 | 29 | #1,905 | 16.0 |
| 1981 | 34 | #1,702 | 19.0 |
| 1980 | 31 | #1,824 | 17.4 |
| 1979 | 26 | #2,005 | 15.1 |
| 1978 | 23 | #2,088 | 14.0 |
| 1977 | 29 | #1,795 | 17.6 |
| 1976 | 28 | #1,795 | 17.8 |
| 1975 | 26 | #1,848 | 16.7 |
| 1974 | 23 | #1,944 | 14.6 |
| 1973 | 22 | #1,942 | 14.1 |
| 1972 | 17 | #2,267 | 10.5 |
| 1971 | 27 | #1,719 | 15.3 |
| 1970 | 21 | #1,953 | 11.3 |
| 1969 | 11 | #2,738 | 6.2 |
| 1968 | 9 | #2,960 | 5.2 |
| 1967 | 12 | #2,392 | 6.9 |
| 1966 | 11 | #2,515 | 6.2 |
| 1965 | 13 | #2,294 | 7.0 |
| 1964 | 13 | #2,343 | 6.5 |
| 1963 | 14 | #2,228 | 6.9 |
| 1962 | 10 | #2,717 | 4.8 |
| 1961 | 11 | #2,584 | 5.2 |
| 1960 | 19 | #1,871 | 8.9 |
| 1959 | 18 | #1,927 | 8.4 |
| 1958 | 16 | #2,045 | 7.5 |
| 1957 | 12 | #2,408 | 5.6 |
| 1956 | 13 | #2,301 | 6.1 |
| 1955 | 12 | #2,332 | 5.8 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,793 | 4.4 |
| 1953 | 9 | #2,764 | 4.6 |
| 1952 | 5 | #3,872 | 2.6 |
| 1949 | 9 | #2,663 | 5.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dov a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dov has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 75 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Dov: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dov, and how old are they?
3,490 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 3,623 Americans ever recorded as Dov. The median Dov alive today is 15 years old; half are between 7 and 30.
The 2020 Census counted 2,560 people named Dov (24 women and girls, 2,536 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,726 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 122 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 294 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 472 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 969 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,630 |
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 Dov born?
The states with the most babies named Dov are New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 77 | #249 | 8.9× |
| New Jersey | 23 | #359 | 7.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | #1,281 | 0.0× |
Where Dov is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dov is most over-represented in New York: since 1949 it was given 8.9 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 Dov 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 Dov
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 Dov and names like it
- Compare Dov and DaniloBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sDov peaked in 2022.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dov since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Dov: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Dov.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Dov alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with DMost given first.