Dashon
An Anglicized spelling of the French name Dashon, meaning "from Ashton" or "from the ash tree town".
Name Census estimates that about 1,602 living Americans carry the first name Dashon. It is a predominantly male name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Dashon today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dashon births was 1993 (69 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dashon. 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.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 213,954 Americans
Peak year
1993
69 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,474
Tracked since 1971
Census
Dashon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,100 people with the first name Dashon, which placed it at #11,591 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
#11,591
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,100 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dashon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dashon is Black at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Dashon 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 Dashon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.7% · 943
- Two or more races6.8% · 75
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 40
- White2.7% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Dashon
Dashon leans heavily male at 98.0% of total registrations, but 33 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dashon as a male name
- Ranked #5,474 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (68 births)
Dashon as a female name
- Ranked #10,846 in 1994
- 7 female births in 1994
- Peak: 1994 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dashon leans strongly male. 1,041 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 57 female bearers (5.2%).
Popularity
Dashon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dashon from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 601 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dashon 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 Dashon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dashons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois recorded the most babies named Dashon, while Texas, Missouri, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dashon
The given name Dashon is believed to have its origins in the Amharic language, which is one of the Semitic languages spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It likely emerged sometime in the late medieval or early modern period, possibly around the 16th or 17th century.
Dashon is thought to be derived from the Amharic word "dashän," which means "bravery" or "courage." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to individuals who exhibited qualities of bravery or strength, either in battle or in other aspects of life.
While there are no definitive records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some scholars believe that it may have been inspired by the Amharic word "dashen," which refers to a type of traditional Ethiopian bread or flatbread. This could indicate a connection to the culinary or agricultural traditions of the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dashon is found in the writings of the 17th-century Ethiopian scholar and philosopher, Zera Yacob. He mentioned a individual named Dashon who was a prominent figure in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church during that time period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Dashon. One example is Dashon Goldson (born 1984), an American former professional football player who played as a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for teams such as the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Another notable figure is Dashon Burton (born 1992), an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the New Zealand Breakers in the National Basketball League (NBL).
In the field of music, Dashon Burton (born 1982) is an American operatic bass-baritone who has performed with prestigious opera companies and orchestras around the world.
The name Dashon is also associated with Dashon Bussie (born 1989), an American former professional basketball player who played in various leagues, including the NBA G League and overseas.
Lastly, Dashon Robertson (born 1985) is an American former professional basketball player who played in several European leagues, including the German Basketball Bundesliga and the French Pro A league.
People
Dashon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dashon 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
Dashon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dashon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,602 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dashon 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 213,954 US residents.
Is Dashon a common name?
We classify Dashon as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,642 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dashon most popular?
The single biggest year for Dashon was 1993, when 69 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dashon is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dashon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,100 people with the name Dashon, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,591 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 Dashon 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 Dashon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dashon leans strongly male. 1,041 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 57 female bearers (5.2%). 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 Dashon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dashon is Black at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Dashon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dashon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.7% (943 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 Dashon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dashon a male name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Dashon in the SSA data are male. 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 Dashon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dashon 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 Dashon 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 Americans are named Dashon?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Dashon at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.