Dabney
A French name derived from the surname d'Aubigny, meaning "from Aubigny".
Name Census estimates that about 442 living Americans carry the first name Dabney. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Dabney today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dabney births was 1973 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dabney. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Dabney started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
442
~ 1 in 775,462 Americans
Peak year
1973
21 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2009 SSA rank
#11,276
Tracked since 1897
Census
Dabney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 655 people with the first name Dabney, which placed it at #17,018 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,018
National first-name rank
People counted
655
655 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dabney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dabney is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (6.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Dabney described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Dabney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.8% · 516
- Black or African American12.2% · 80
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 44
- Two or more races1.2% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Dabney
Dabney is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 623 total registrations, 232 (37.2%) were male and 391 (62.8%) were female.
Dabney as a male name
- Ranked #11,276 in 2009
- 6 male births in 2009
- Peak: 1925 (11 births)
Dabney as a female name
- Ranked #15,710 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1973 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dabney on both sides of the split. Of the 654 people counted with this name, 199 were male (30.4%) and 455 were female (69.6%).
Popularity
Dabney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dabney from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 96 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dabney by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Dabney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dabneys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dabney
The name Dabney has its origins in Old English, derived from the word "dæne" which means "valley" or "den." It is believed to have originated as a surname in the 12th century, referring to someone who lived or worked in a valley.
In the 13th century, the name Dabney appeared in historical records in England, such as the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire, where it was spelled "de Dene" or "de Dena." This early spelling variation highlights the name's connection to its geographical meaning.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Dabney was Sir Ralph de Dene, a knight who lived in Gloucestershire, England, in the late 13th century. He was mentioned in several medieval documents and was known for his military service during the wars between England and Wales.
In the 16th century, the name Dabney gained popularity among the English gentry and aristocracy. Notable figures from this time period include Sir Thomas Dabney, a wealthy landowner and Member of Parliament in the 1500s, and Richard Dabney, who served as the Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1582.
As the name spread across the English-speaking world, it gained a foothold in the American colonies. One of the most prominent early American bearers of the name was Reverend Robert Dabney, a Presbyterian minister and theologian who lived from 1820 to 1898. He was a staunch advocate for Southern states' rights and wrote extensively on theology and philosophy.
Another notable American with the name Dabney was John Dabney, a successful businessman and plantation owner from Virginia, who lived from 1824 to 1900. He was a prominent figure in the tobacco industry and played a significant role in the development of the city of Richmond, Virginia.
In the literary world, the name Dabney is associated with the American novelist and short story writer, Dabney Stuart, who lived from 1897 to 1964. She is best known for her novel "Narcissa" and her stories set in the American South.
While the name Dabney has its roots in England and was initially more common among the English gentry, it has since spread across various cultures and regions, with notable bearers in various fields, from religion and business to literature and politics.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dabney
People
Dabney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dabney as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dabney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dabney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 442 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dabney going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 775,462 US residents.
Is Dabney a common name?
We classify Dabney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 623 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dabney most popular?
The single biggest year for Dabney was 1973, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dabney is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dabney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 655 people with the name Dabney, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,018 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Dabney in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Dabney?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dabney on both sides of the split. Of the 654 people counted with this name, 199 were male (30.4%) and 455 were female (69.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Dabney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dabney is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (6.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Dabney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dabney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (516 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Dabney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dabney a female name?
Yes, 62.8% of people registered as Dabney in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Dabney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dabney in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Dabney can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Dabney?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Dabney on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.