Humanverse

Dawayne vs Dawnette

American parents have registered 1,690 Dawaynes since 1880, against 656 Dawnettes. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Dawayne against Dawnette, 1880 to 2025 0 15 30 45 60 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Dawayne Dawnette

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 84 years in which either name was published, Dawayne for 69 years and Dawnette for 15 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Dawayne Dawnette
Total US births 1,690656
Most in one year 4554
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 1,500600
Median age today 3955
Peak year 19771971
Best rank 1,356th boys1,686th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19291951
Girls / boys 0 / 1,690656 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Dawnettes alive today are over 55; half the Dawaynes are over 39. That is 16 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Dawayne and Dawnette.