Duane
Duane was given to 51 boys in 2025, #2,578 among boys’ names; 116,456 Americans have been recorded with it since 1885 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 66,800 Americans named Duane and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (57% of everyone recorded); the median is 63 years old and half are between 53 and 71.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Duane by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Duane mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Duane is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “black, dark” (dubh) and “descendant of Dubhán” (literally).
Anglicized form of the Irish name Dubhán (from Primitive Irish ᚇᚑᚃᚐᚌᚅᚔ (dovagni)), from dubh (“black, dark”); or transferred from the surname, which is from Irish Ó Dubháin (literally “descendant of Dubhán”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Duane?
#2,578 among boys’ names, 2025
Duane fell from #1,477 in 2015 to #2,578 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 59.0 to 29.9 per million.
2,978 babies in 1959, the peak
Duane peaked in 1959, when 2,978 babies were given it (2,965 boys, #126 among boys’ names). The 51 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 51 | #2,578 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 72 | #2,081 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 70 | #2,101 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 71 | #2,100 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 81 | #1,889 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 79 | #1,880 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 70 | #2,065 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 81 | #1,858 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 102 | #1,587 | 0.06 |
| 2016 | 115 | #1,485 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (133)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 113 | #1,477 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 100 | #1,578 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 108 | #1,503 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 128 | #1,332 | 0.07 |
| 2011 | 130 | #1,312 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 128 | #1,333 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 121 | #1,403 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 160 | #1,139 | 0.08 |
| 2007 | 149 | #1,184 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 150 | #1,137 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 147 | #1,117 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 161 | #1,018 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 155 | #1,019 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 178 | #906 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 177 | #890 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 185 | #859 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 175 | #861 | 0.09 |
| 1998 | 206 | #768 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 203 | #740 | 0.11 |
| 1996 | 236 | #688 | 0.12 |
| 1995 | 252 | #657 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 259 | #645 | 0.13 |
| 1993 | 269 | #625 | 0.14 |
| 1992 | 325 | #563 | 0.16 |
| 1991 | 333 | #555 | 0.16 |
| 1990 | 357 | #520 | 0.17 |
| 1989 | 401 | #476 | 0.20 |
| 1988 | 390 | #460 | 0.20 |
| 1987 | 428 | #423 | 0.23 |
| 1986 | 453 | #397 | 0.25 |
| 1985 | 566 | #337 | 0.31 |
| 1984 | 552 | #336 | 0.31 |
| 1983 | 531 | #342 | 0.30 |
| 1982 | 594 | #321 | 0.33 |
| 1981 | 612 | #310 | 0.34 |
| 1980 | 720 | #289 | 0.40 |
| 1979 | 829 | #254 | 0.48 |
| 1978 | 837 | #247 | 0.51 |
| 1977 | 1,048 | #213 | 0.64 |
| 1976 | 1,049 | #207 | 0.67 |
| 1975 | 1,042 | #207 | 0.67 |
| 1974 | 1,201 | #187 | 0.76 |
| 1973 | 1,334 | #176 | 0.86 |
| 1972 | 1,677 | #158 | 1.0 |
| 1971 | 1,615 | #167 | 0.91 |
| 1970 | 1,772 | #163 | 1.0 |
| 1969 | 1,887 | #156 | 1.1 |
| 1968 | 1,961 | #146 | 1.1 |
| 1967 | 2,110 | #139 | 1.2 |
| 1966 | 2,116 | #140 | 1.2 |
| 1965 | 2,274 | #135 | 1.2 |
| 1964 | 2,528 | #130 | 1.3 |
| 1963 | 2,594 | #130 | 1.3 |
| 1962 | 2,600 | #135 | 1.3 |
| 1961 | 2,734 | #132 | 1.3 |
| 1960 | 2,951 | #127 | 1.4 |
| 1959 | 2,965 | #126 | 1.4 |
| 1958 | 2,614 | #136 | 1.2 |
| 1957 | 2,621 | #136 | 1.2 |
| 1956 | 2,596 | #127 | 1.2 |
| 1955 | 2,345 | #135 | 1.1 |
| 1954 | 2,325 | #136 | 1.1 |
| 1953 | 2,338 | #132 | 1.2 |
| 1952 | 2,231 | #131 | 1.1 |
| 1951 | 2,146 | #130 | 1.1 |
| 1950 | 1,963 | #137 | 1.1 |
| 1949 | 1,997 | #137 | 1.1 |
| 1948 | 1,963 | #140 | 1.1 |
| 1947 | 2,092 | #135 | 1.1 |
| 1946 | 1,712 | #142 | 1.1 |
| 1945 | 1,582 | #138 | 1.2 |
| 1944 | 1,561 | #135 | 1.1 |
| 1943 | 1,622 | #138 | 1.1 |
| 1942 | 1,620 | #132 | 1.2 |
| 1941 | 1,535 | #129 | 1.2 |
| 1940 | 1,388 | #134 | 1.2 |
| 1939 | 1,494 | #118 | 1.3 |
| 1938 | 1,616 | #114 | 1.5 |
| 1937 | 1,630 | #115 | 1.5 |
| 1936 | 1,725 | #110 | 1.7 |
| 1935 | 1,830 | #105 | 1.8 |
| 1934 | 1,837 | #104 | 1.8 |
| 1933 | 1,765 | #102 | 1.8 |
| 1932 | 1,710 | #105 | 1.6 |
| 1931 | 1,728 | #104 | 1.7 |
| 1930 | 1,520 | #120 | 1.4 |
| 1929 | 1,246 | #137 | 1.2 |
| 1928 | 1,212 | #141 | 1.1 |
| 1927 | 1,082 | #147 | 1.0 |
| 1926 | 963 | #160 | 0.87 |
| 1925 | 896 | #170 | 0.80 |
| 1924 | 815 | #176 | 0.72 |
| 1923 | 725 | #190 | 0.66 |
| 1922 | 625 | #209 | 0.57 |
| 1921 | 546 | #241 | 0.50 |
| 1920 | 455 | #257 | 0.43 |
| 1919 | 311 | #315 | 0.32 |
| 1918 | 303 | #329 | 0.30 |
| 1917 | 209 | #388 | 0.23 |
| 1916 | 215 | #375 | 0.24 |
| 1915 | 196 | #382 | 0.23 |
| 1914 | 114 | #449 | 0.17 |
| 1913 | 79 | #487 | 0.15 |
| 1912 | 74 | #461 | 0.17 |
| 1911 | 27 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1910 | 26 | #558 | 0.13 |
| 1909 | 21 | #579 | 0.13 |
| 1908 | 11 | #841 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 16 | #641 | 0.11 |
| 1906 | 11 | #770 | 0.08 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,283 | 0.04 |
| 1904 | 12 | #696 | 0.09 |
| 1903 | 16 | #556 | 0.13 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,040 | 0.05 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,203 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,090 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 7 | #906 | 0.06 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,106 | 0.04 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,139 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 8 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,009 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 5 | #972 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 5 | #977 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Duane a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Duane has been given almost only to boys: 1,014 girls in 133 years of records.
Girls and boys named Duane: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Duane, and how old are they?
66,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 57% of the 116,456 Americans ever recorded as Duane. The median Duane alive today is 63 years old; half are between 53 and 71.
The 2020 Census counted 71,865 people named Duane (374 women and girls, 71,491 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 76,083 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 5,670 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 30,700 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 20,600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,230 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,510 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,110 |
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 Duane born?
The states with the most babies named Duane are Michigan, Minnesota and California, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 10,165 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Minnesota | 8,273 | not ranked | 3.3× |
| California | 7,146 | #2,046 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 6,981 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New York | 6,577 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Wisconsin | 6,420 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 6,223 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Iowa | 6,095 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Illinois | 5,893 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 3,483 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Duane is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Duane is most over-represented in North Dakota: since 1910 it was given 5.6 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 Duane with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 195,258 babies since 1880, Duane is the most given (60% of them). In 2025 it was given to 51 of their 175 babies (29%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Duane
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 Duane and names like it
- Compare Duane and DwayneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDuane peaked in 1959.
- Michigan’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Duane since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Duane: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Duane.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Duane alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.