Dedrick
A variant form of the Germanic name Theodoric meaning "people ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 4,218 living Americans carry the first name Dedrick. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dedrick today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dedrick births was 1977 (152 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dedrick. 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
4.2K
~ 1 in 81,260 Americans
Peak year
1977
152 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,270
Tracked since 1920
Census
Dedrick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,038 people with the first name Dedrick, which placed it at #5,587 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
#5,587
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,038 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dedrick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dedrick is Black at 84.0%. The next largest groups are White (6.2%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Dedrick 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 Dedrick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.0% · 2,553
- White6.2% · 189
- Two or more races4.0% · 121
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 112
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 30
Gender
Gender distribution for Dedrick
Out of the 4,458 babies given the name Dedrick since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Dedrick as a male name
- Ranked #5,270 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (147 births)
Dedrick as a female name
- Ranked #9,598 in 1985
- 6 female births in 1985
- Peak: 1985 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dedrick appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,035 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Dedrick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dedrick from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,081 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
Dedrick 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 Dedrick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dedricks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Dedrick, while Virginia, Michigan, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 184 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dedrick
The name Dedrick is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old High German name Theodric, which is a compound of the elements "theud" meaning "people" and "ric" meaning "ruler" or "powerful". This name can be traced back to the 5th century AD and was popular among the Franks and other Germanic tribes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dedrick can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of medieval charters and documents from the 8th century. In this text, a nobleman named Dedrick is mentioned as a witness to a land transaction in the region of modern-day Germany.
During the Middle Ages, the name Dedrick gained popularity across Europe, particularly in areas with strong Germanic influence. It was often associated with nobility and military prowess, as many bearers of the name were knights or warriors.
In the 11th century, a notable figure named Dedrick von Trier served as the Archbishop of Trier, an influential ecclesiastical prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire. His tenure as archbishop lasted from 1066 to 1075, and he was known for his efforts in promoting education and religious reforms.
Another historical figure with the name Dedrick was Dedrick of Altena, a German nobleman and crusader who participated in the Third Crusade under the leadership of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the late 12th century. Dedrick is mentioned in several chronicles and accounts of the crusade for his bravery in battle.
During the Renaissance period, the name Dedrick was popular among artists and intellectuals. One such individual was Dedrick Barendsz, a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver who lived from 1534 to 1592. He was known for his detailed landscapes and cityscapes, and his works are displayed in various museums across Europe.
In the 17th century, Dedrick Weightman, an English playwright and poet, gained recognition for his works, including the play "The Siège of Rhodes" and several collections of poetry. He was born in 1618 and was a contemporary of prominent literary figures like John Milton and John Dryden.
People
Dedrick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dedrick 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
Dedrick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dedrick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,218 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dedrick 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 81,260 US residents.
Is Dedrick a common name?
We classify Dedrick as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,458 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dedrick most popular?
The single biggest year for Dedrick was 1977, when 152 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dedrick is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dedrick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,038 people with the name Dedrick, or 1.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,587 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 Dedrick 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 Dedrick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dedrick appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,035 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Dedrick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dedrick is Black at 84.0%. The next largest groups are White (6.2%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Dedrick most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dedrick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.0% (2,553 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 Dedrick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dedrick a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Dedrick 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 Dedrick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dedrick 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 Dedrick 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 Dedrick?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.