Davie
Diminutive form of the masculine given name David, of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 2,606 living Americans carry the first name Davie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Davie today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Davie births was 1929 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Davie. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Davie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 131,525 Americans
Peak year
1929
74 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,082
Tracked since 1880
Census
Davie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,104 people with the first name Davie, which placed it at #7,295 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
#7,295
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,104 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Davie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Davie is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.4%) and Hispanic (14.1%). 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 Davie 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 Davie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.1% · 1,118
- Black or African American22.4% · 472
- Hispanic or Latino14.1% · 296
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 112
- Two or more races3.5% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 32
Gender
Gender distribution for Davie
Davie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,301 total registrations, 3,250 (75.6%) were male and 1,051 (24.4%) were female.
Davie as a male name
- Ranked #7,324 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1955 (62 births)
Davie as a female name
- Ranked #3,082 in 2024
- 52 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (58 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Davie on both sides of the split. Of the 2,101 people counted with this name, 1,553 were male (73.9%) and 548 were female (26.1%).
Popularity
Davie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Davie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 551 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Davie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Davie 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 Davie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Davies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas recorded the most babies named Davie, while New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 47 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Davie
The name Davie has its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the biblical name David, which means "beloved" or "uncle". It traces its roots back to ancient Israel, where David was a prominent figure in both religious and historical contexts.
The name David appears extensively in the Old Testament, most notably as the name of the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel and Judah. David, the son of Jesse, is celebrated for his victory over Goliath and his role as a mighty warrior and successful monarch. This biblical association has given the name Davie a strong spiritual and cultural significance within the Judeo-Christian tradition.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Davie can be found in medieval Scottish records, where it was a diminutive form of David. In these records, Davie was often used as a nickname or a shortened version of the name David.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Davie. One of the most famous was Davie Crockett (1786-1836), an American folk hero, frontiersman, and politician who played a significant role in the Texas Revolution. Another notable Davie was Davie Wilkie (1785-1841), a Scottish painter renowned for his realistic portrayal of domestic scenes and everyday life.
In the literary world, Davie Deans is a character in Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Heart of Midlothian" (1818), representing the Scottish Presbyterian tradition. The name Davie also has a significant place in Scottish poetry, with poets like Davie Lindsay (c. 1490-1555) and Davie Garrick (1717-1779) contributing to the rich cultural heritage of Scotland.
Additionally, the name Davie has been associated with several notable athletes, such as Davie Arnott (1887-1955), a Scottish footballer who played for Sunderland and the Scottish national team in the early 20th century, and Davie Crichton (1856-1939), a Scottish golfer and the winner of the Open Championship in 1889.
People
Davie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Davie 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
Davie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Davie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,606 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Davie 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 131,525 US residents.
Is Davie a common name?
We classify Davie as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,301 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Davie most popular?
The single biggest year for Davie was 1929, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Davie is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Davie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,104 people with the name Davie, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,295 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 Davie 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 Davie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Davie on both sides of the split. Of the 2,101 people counted with this name, 1,553 were male (73.9%) and 548 were female (26.1%). 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 Davie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Davie is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.4%) and Hispanic (14.1%). 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 Davie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Davie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.1% (1,118 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 Davie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Davie a male name?
Yes, 75.6% of people registered as Davie 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 Davie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Davie 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 Davie 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 Davie as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Davie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.