Dawes vs Dawson
American parents have registered 54,199 Dawsons since 1880, against 31 Daweses. Dawson is still ahead, with 2,568 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Dawes Dawson
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
Dawson has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1885 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1924, when Dawes had 9 and Dawson had 35.
Side by side
| Dawes | Dawson | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 31 | 54,199 |
| Most in one year | 9 | 2,834 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 2,568 |
| Estimated living today | 10 | 53,000 |
| Median age today | 8 | 13 |
| Peak year | 1924 | 1999 |
| Best rank | 3,023rd boys | 136th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 143rd |
| First recorded | 1924 | 1885 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 31 | 1,397 / 52,802 |
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 Dawsons alive today are over 13; half the Daweses are over 8. That is 5 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Dawes and Dawson.