Meaning not yet researched.
Dewey: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 28 in 2025. Its best rank was #19 in 1898.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #19 in 1898; #3,870 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Dewey in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#3,870 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1898, at #19.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Dewey: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 28 boys in 2025. Peak: #19 in 1898 · most boys in one year: 1,115 (1898).
In 2025, 28 US boys were named Dewey, making it the 3,870th most common boys’ name of the year, down 242 places from #3,628 in 2024. That is 3 fewer than the 31 boys named Dewey in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #19, reached in 1898. That year also had the most boys given the name: 1,115. For comparison, it was #5,352 in 2015 and #340 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Dewey in 139 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1887 with 5 babies. In all, 34,920 US babies have been given the name, 1.6% of them girls and 98% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1920s, with 7,370 babies named Dewey.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 264 US boys were named Dewey; the busiest of those years was 2021, with 35. In 2025 that was about 1 in 61,003 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Dwight (78,907 babies since 1880), Dwayne (77,200 babies since 1880) and Davey (3,568 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Dewie and Dewy are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Rare spellings summarised here: Dewie (255), Dewy (21).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Dewey in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 28 | #3,870 |
| 2024 | — | — | 31 | #3,628 |
| 2023 | — | — | 23 | #4,492 |
| 2022 | — | — | 19 | #5,073 |
| 2021 | — | — | 35 | #3,315 |
| 2020 | — | — | 30 | #3,594 |
| 2019 | — | — | 28 | #3,824 |
| 2018 | — | — | 26 | #4,020 |
| 2017 | — | — | 28 | #3,800 |
| 2016 | — | — | 16 | #5,614 |
| 2015 | — | — | 17 | #5,352 |
| 2014 | — | — | 17 | #5,305 |
| 2013 | — | — | 28 | #3,684 |
| 2012 | — | — | 33 | #3,318 |
| 2011 | — | — | 21 | #4,540 |
| 2010 | — | — | 20 | #4,719 |
| 2009 | — | — | 25 | #4,065 |
| 2008 | — | — | 36 | #3,176 |
| 2007 | — | — | 42 | #2,830 |
| 2006 | — | — | 27 | #3,706 |
| 2005 | — | — | 30 | #3,336 |
| 2004 | — | — | 38 | #2,755 |
| 2003 | — | — | 30 | #3,137 |
| 2002 | — | — | 33 | #2,834 |
| 2001 | — | — | 24 | #3,533 |
| 2000 | — | — | 32 | #2,820 |
| 1999 | — | — | 29 | #2,886 |
| 1998 | — | — | 50 | #1,939 |
| 1997 | — | — | 37 | #2,272 |
| 1996 | — | — | 50 | #1,825 |
| 1995 | — | — | 36 | #2,221 |
| 1994 | — | — | 44 | #1,900 |
| 1993 | — | — | 51 | #1,704 |
| 1992 | — | — | 68 | #1,374 |
| 1991 | — | — | 62 | #1,447 |
| 1990 | — | — | 65 | #1,386 |
| 1989 | — | — | 77 | #1,221 |
| 1988 | — | — | 76 | #1,157 |
| 1987 | — | — | 74 | #1,116 |
| 1986 | — | — | 88 | #983 |
| 1985 | — | — | 67 | #1,138 |
| 1984 | — | — | 93 | #914 |
| 1983 | — | — | 99 | #886 |
| 1982 | — | — | 108 | #856 |
| 1981 | — | — | 105 | #866 |
| 1980 | — | — | 134 | #758 |
| 1979 | — | — | 142 | #727 |
| 1978 | — | — | 118 | #774 |
| 1977 | — | — | 139 | #723 |
| 1976 | — | — | 134 | #724 |
| 1975 | — | — | 164 | #630 |
| 1974 | — | — | 159 | #639 |
| 1973 | — | — | 149 | #653 |
| 1972 | — | — | 182 | #591 |
| 1971 | — | — | 220 | #541 |
| 1970 | — | — | 228 | #535 |
| 1969 | — | — | 216 | #534 |
| 1968 | — | — | 225 | #503 |
| 1967 | — | — | 208 | #518 |
| 1966 | — | — | 235 | #495 |
| 1965 | — | — | 271 | #473 |
| 1964 | — | — | 281 | #472 |
| 1963 | — | — | 291 | #460 |
| 1962 | — | — | 279 | #476 |
| 1961 | — | — | 303 | #465 |
| 1960 | — | — | 318 | #452 |
| 1959 | — | — | 328 | #440 |
| 1958 | — | — | 331 | #432 |
| 1957 | — | — | 367 | #408 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,188 | 389 | #383 |
| 1955 | — | — | 403 | #362 |
| 1954 | — | — | 392 | #364 |
| 1953 | — | — | 390 | #351 |
| 1952 | — | — | 420 | #339 |
| 1951 | — | — | 418 | #333 |
| 1950 | 6 | #4,872 | 393 | #340 |
| 1949 | 7 | #4,335 | 461 | #316 |
| 1948 | — | — | 615 | #266 |
| 1947 | — | — | 553 | #293 |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,125 | 522 | #282 |
| 1945 | — | — | 478 | #273 |
| 1944 | 5 | #4,729 | 653 | #213 |
| 1943 | — | — | 566 | #248 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,830 | 506 | #265 |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,565 | 476 | #256 |
| 1940 | 9 | #3,017 | 542 | #229 |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,401 | 478 | #241 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,548 | 501 | #238 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,993 | 479 | #241 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,804 | 500 | #229 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,464 | 503 | #231 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,605 | 514 | #228 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,435 | 520 | #221 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,397 | 583 | #212 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,616 | 597 | #211 |
| 1930 | 18 | #1,958 | 653 | #205 |
| 1929 | 17 | #2,029 | 634 | #208 |
| 1928 | 13 | #2,527 | 675 | #202 |
| 1927 | 14 | #2,458 | 720 | #197 |
| 1926 | 15 | #2,375 | 767 | #188 |
| 1925 | 18 | #2,132 | 798 | #181 |
| 1924 | 11 | #3,015 | 773 | #186 |
| 1923 | 18 | #2,106 | 762 | #185 |
| 1922 | 13 | #2,650 | 714 | #193 |
| 1921 | 16 | #2,311 | 762 | #184 |
| 1920 | 11 | #2,956 | 619 | #208 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,412 | 607 | #205 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,899 | 556 | #223 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,424 | 417 | #247 |
| 1916 | 6 | #4,039 | 357 | #268 |
| 1915 | — | — | 286 | #301 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,962 | 205 | #317 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,609 | 172 | #303 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,713 | 166 | #276 |
| 1911 | — | — | 107 | #249 |
| 1910 | — | — | 87 | #261 |
| 1909 | — | — | 91 | #227 |
| 1908 | — | — | 99 | #206 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,144 | 93 | #207 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,790 | 83 | #214 |
| 1905 | — | — | 99 | #184 |
| 1904 | — | — | 97 | #185 |
| 1903 | 7 | #1,478 | 140 | #133 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,856 | 136 | #139 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,374 | 137 | #121 |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,346 | 345 | #75 |
| 1899 | 24 | #632 | 499 | #39 |
| 1898 | 104 | #305 | 1,115 | #19 |
| 1897 | 13 | #904 | 158 | #111 |
| 1896 | — | — | 63 | #224 |
| 1895 | — | — | 28 | #349 |
| 1894 | — | — | 17 | #486 |
| 1893 | — | — | 8 | #786 |
| 1892 | — | — | 8 | #814 |
| 1891 | — | — | 9 | #656 |
| 1890 | — | — | 16 | #464 |
| 1889 | — | — | 13 | #532 |
| 1888 | — | — | 7 | #838 |
| 1887 | — | — | 5 | #964 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).