Davis
A masculine name derived from the Hebrew word "David", meaning "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 27,315 living Americans carry the first name Davis. It is a predominantly male name (96.9% of registrations). The average person named Davis today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Davis births was 2007 (773 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Davis. 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 Davis with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Davis is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,013 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
27K
~ 1 in 12,548 Americans
Peak year
2007
773 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#645
Tracked since 1880
Census
Davis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 26,622 people with the first name Davis, which placed it at #1,346 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
#1,346
National first-name rank
People counted
27K
26,622 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Davis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Davis is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Davis 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 Davis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.3% · 19,767
- Black or African American7.9% · 2,102
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 1,922
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 1,491
- Two or more races4.1% · 1,097
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 243
Gender
Gender distribution for Davis
Davis leans heavily male at 96.9% of total registrations, but 1,013 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Davis as a male name
- Ranked #645 in 2024
- 429 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (756 births)
Davis as a female name
- Ranked #6,204 in 2024
- 19 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (36 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Davis leans strongly male. 25,675 people counted with this name were male (96.4%), compared with 958 female bearers (3.6%).
Popularity
Davis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Davis from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 7,324 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Davis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Davis 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 Davis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Davis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Davis, while North Dakota, Maine, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 573 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Davis
The name Davis originated as an English surname derived from the given name David, which has Hebrew roots meaning "beloved". It emerged as a common first name in use during the Middle Ages, between the 5th and 15th centuries.
The name Davis can be traced back to the biblical figure King David, a ruler of ancient Israel mentioned in the Old Testament. Born around 1040 BCE, he was renowned for slaying the giant Goliah and later becoming the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Davis was Davis Dolben, an English bishop and clergyman born in 1640. He served as the Bishop of Bangor and later became the Bishop of New Sarum (Salisbury) in the late 17th century.
Another notable Davis from history was Davis Mell Gregg (1833-1916), a American military officer who fought for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He achieved the rank of Major General and participated in several key battles, including the Battle of Fredericksburg.
In the field of science, Davis Grubb (1919-1980) was an American author and novelist best known for his novel "Night of the Hunter", which was later adapted into a critically acclaimed film. He was born in Muncie, Indiana and his works often explored themes of good versus evil.
Davis Love III (born 1964) is a professional golfer from the United States who has won numerous PGA Tour events, including the 1997 PGA Championship. He has also represented the United States in several Ryder Cup competitions.
Finally, Davis Guggenheim (born 1963) is an American filmmaker and documentary director, best known for his Academy Award-winning film "An Inconvenient Truth" about former Vice President Al Gore's campaign to raise awareness of global warming.
People
Davis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Davis 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
Davis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Davis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 27,315 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Davis 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 12,548 US residents.
Is Davis a common name?
We classify Davis as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32,676 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Davis most popular?
The single biggest year for Davis was 2007, when 773 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Davis 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 Davis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 26,622 people with the name Davis, or 8.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,346 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 Davis 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 Davis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Davis leans strongly male. 25,675 people counted with this name were male (96.4%), compared with 958 female bearers (3.6%). 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 Davis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Davis is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Davis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Davis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.3% (19,767 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 Davis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Davis a male name?
Yes, 96.9% of people registered as Davis 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 Davis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Davis 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 Davis 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 Davis as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Davis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.