Dick
A diminutive of Richard, meaning brave power or powerful leader.
Name Census estimates that about 9,164 living Americans carry the first name Dick. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dick today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dick births was 1934 (1,131 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dick. 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
- • The typical person named Dick is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dicks were born before 1957.
- • Compared to the 1930s, recent registration numbers for Dick have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
9.2K
~ 1 in 37,402 Americans
Peak year
1934
1,131 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
2005 SSA rank
#4,368
Tracked since 1880
Census
Dick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,349 people with the first name Dick, which placed it at #3,340 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
#3,340
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,349 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dick is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Dick 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 Dick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 5,143
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 532
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 318
- Black or African American2.7% · 170
- Two or more races1.7% · 108
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 78
Gender
Gender distribution for Dick
Out of the 29,321 babies given the name Dick since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Dick as a male name
- Ranked #11,903 in 2005
- 5 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1934 (1,131 births)
Dick as a female name
- Ranked #4,368 in 1933
- 5 female births in 1933
- Peak: 1925 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dick leans strongly male. 6,278 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 72 female bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Dick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dick from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 10,180 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dick 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 Dick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dicks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, Ohio, Iowa recorded the most babies named Dick, while Hawaii, Alaska, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 578 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dick
The name Dick is a diminutive form of the masculine given name Richard, which is derived from the Germanic words "ric" (ruler, leader, king) and "hart" (hardy, brave, strong). The name Richard was introduced to Britain by the Normans after their conquest of England in 1066.
In its earliest recorded use, the name Dick appeared as a diminutive of Richard in medieval England during the 13th century. It was a common nickname or pet form of Richard, similar to other diminutives like Rich, Rick, and Richie.
Dick gained popularity as a standalone name in its own right in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the given name Dick was Dick Whittington (c. 1354–1423), a famous English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London four times.
Another notable historical figure named Dick was Dick Turpin (1705–1739), an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticized in popular culture. Despite his criminal activities, Turpin became a folk hero and the subject of numerous stories and ballads.
In the 16th century, the name Dick was associated with the Protestant Reformation. Dick Saunders (c. 1530–1577) was an English Puritan minister and author who advocated for religious reforms and wrote several influential works.
During the English Civil War in the 17th century, Dick Hazelrig (1607–1690) was a prominent Parliamentarian and a staunch supporter of Oliver Cromwell's cause. He played a significant role in the conflict and later served as a member of Cromwell's Privy Council.
In the 18th century, Dick Tarleton (1743–1833) was a British officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He gained notoriety for his daring cavalry raids and became known as the "Green Dragoon" for his distinctive military uniform.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the given name Dick. The name has a rich heritage and has been used across various cultures and time periods, often as a diminutive form of Richard or as an independent name in its own right.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dick
People
Dick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dick 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
Dick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,164 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dick 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 37,402 US residents.
Is Dick a common name?
We classify Dick as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29,321 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dick most popular?
The single biggest year for Dick was 1934, when 1,131 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dick is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,349 people with the name Dick, or 2.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,340 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 Dick 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 Dick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dick leans strongly male. 6,278 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 72 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Dick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dick is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Dick most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (5,143 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 Dick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dick a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Dick 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 Dick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dick 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 Dick 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 share the name Dick?
Want to know how many people have the name Dick? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.