Dickie
Diminutive of Richard, a masculine name derived from Germanic elements meaning "brave" and "ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 2,627 living Americans carry the first name Dickie. It is a predominantly male name (94.5% of registrations). The average person named Dickie today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dickie births was 1947 (205 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dickie. 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 Dickie is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dickies were born before 1963.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 130,474 Americans
Peak year
1947
205 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1993 SSA rank
#6,005
Tracked since 1916
Census
Dickie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,877 people with the first name Dickie, which placed it at #7,890 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
#7,890
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,877 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dickie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dickie is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Dickie 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 Dickie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.0% · 1,595
- Black or African American5.1% · 96
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 73
- Two or more races2.3% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 32
Gender
Gender distribution for Dickie
Dickie leans heavily male at 94.5% of total registrations, but 260 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dickie as a male name
- Ranked #9,119 in 1993
- 5 male births in 1993
- Peak: 1947 (192 births)
Dickie as a female name
- Ranked #6,005 in 1961
- 6 female births in 1961
- Peak: 1953 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dickie leans strongly male. 1,679 people counted with this name were male (89.3%), compared with 201 female bearers (10.7%).
Popularity
Dickie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dickie from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 1,613 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dickie 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 Dickie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dickies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the most babies named Dickie, while Nebraska, Mississippi, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 104 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dickie
The given name Dickie has its origins in the English language, and it is believed to have emerged as a diminutive form of the name Richard. Richard itself is derived from the Germanic elements "ric" meaning power or rule, and "hard" meaning hardy, brave, or strong. Therefore, the name Dickie can be interpreted as "powerful and brave little one."
The name Richard gained widespread popularity during the medieval period, particularly in England and other parts of Western Europe. It was often associated with royalty and nobility, with several prominent figures bearing the name, including Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart, who was the King of England from 1189 to 1199.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the diminutive form Dickie can be found in the writings of the English playwright William Shakespeare. In his play "Henry IV, Part 2," Shakespeare refers to a character named Dickie Tarlton, who was likely inspired by the famous actor and clown Richard Tarlton, who lived during the late 16th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Dickie. One such person was Dickie Moore, an American actor who was born in 1925 and gained fame as a child star during the 1930s. He appeared in numerous films, including "Our Gang" comedies and "Miss Annie Rooney" alongside Shirley Temple.
Another famous Dickie was Dickie Burnett, a Scottish professional footballer who played as a winger for several clubs, including Heart of Midlothian and Tottenham Hotspur, during the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in 1932 and passed away in 2019.
In the world of music, Dickie Betts is a renowned American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Southern rock band The Allman Brothers Band. He was born in 1943 and has had a prolific career spanning over five decades.
Dickie Dunn was an American professional baseball player who played as an outfielder for several Major League Baseball teams, including the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, during the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in 1920 and passed away in 2009.
Lastly, Dickie Pearce was a professional squash player from England who dominated the sport during the 1960s and 1970s. He won numerous prestigious tournaments, including the British Open and the World Open, and was considered one of the greatest squash players of his era. Pearce was born in 1935 and passed away in 2010.
People
Dickie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dickie 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
Dickie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dickie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,627 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dickie 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 130,474 US residents.
Is Dickie a common name?
We classify Dickie 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, 4,719 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dickie most popular?
The single biggest year for Dickie was 1947, when 205 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dickie is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dickie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,877 people with the name Dickie, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,890 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 Dickie 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 Dickie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dickie leans strongly male. 1,679 people counted with this name were male (89.3%), compared with 201 female bearers (10.7%). 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 Dickie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dickie is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Dickie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dickie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.0% (1,595 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 Dickie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dickie a male name?
Yes, 94.5% of people registered as Dickie 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 Dickie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dickie 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 Dickie 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 Dickie?
Find out how many Americans are named Dickie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.