Dion
A name of Greek origin meaning "revered" or "divine one".
Name Census estimates that about 18,525 living Americans carry the first name Dion. It is a predominantly male name (93.8% of registrations). The average person named Dion today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dion births was 1970 (607 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dion. 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 Dion with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 18,502 Americans
Peak year
1970
607 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,116
Tracked since 1929
Census
Dion in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,898 people with the first name Dion, which placed it at #1,903 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
#1,903
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,898 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dion
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dion is Black at 52.0%. The next largest groups are White (27.3%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Dion 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 Dion at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.0% · 7,740
- White27.3% · 4,060
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 1,356
- Two or more races6.2% · 929
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 427
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 386
Gender
Gender distribution for Dion
Dion leans heavily male at 93.8% of total registrations, but 1,244 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dion as a male name
- Ranked #1,116 in 2024
- 191 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (554 births)
Dion as a female name
- Ranked #9,056 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (53 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dion leans strongly male. 13,771 people counted with this name were male (92.4%), compared with 1,131 female bearers (7.6%).
Popularity
Dion: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dion 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 4,478 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
Dion 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 Dion during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dions live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Dion, while Nevada, Idaho, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 351 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dion
The given name Dion has its origins in ancient Greek culture, tracing back to the 5th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "Dios," which means "divine" or "of Zeus." This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with the chief deity of the Greek pantheon, Zeus.
In Greek mythology, Dion was the name of a hunter who was turned into a dolphin by the sea god Poseidon. The name also appears in various ancient Greek texts, including the works of Plato and Aristotle, indicating its widespread usage during the classical period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Dion was a Greek historian and philosopher from the 4th century BC. Dion of Syracuse was a disciple of Plato and played a significant role in the political affairs of his native city-state.
In the 1st century AD, Dion Cassius, a Roman historian and senator, wrote an influential work titled "Roman History," which chronicled the events of the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire.
During the Byzantine era, Dion Chrysostom, a Greek philosopher and orator from the 1st century AD, was renowned for his eloquent speeches and writings on moral philosophy.
In the realm of Christianity, Saint Dion was a 3rd-century martyr who was executed during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Decius.
Another notable figure was Dion Boucicault, an Irish actor, playwright, and producer from the 19th century (1820-1890), who made significant contributions to the development of modern theatre.
Dion O'Banion, an Irish-American gangster and bootlegger from the early 20th century (1892-1924), played a prominent role in the criminal underworld of Chicago during the Prohibition era.
Dion DiMucci, an American singer-songwriter (born 1939), rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s as a pioneering figure in the rock and roll genre, with hits like "Runaround Sue" and "The Wanderer."
Overall, the name Dion has a rich history spanning various cultures and time periods, with connections to Greek mythology, Roman history, Christian martyrdom, and artistic and cultural figures throughout the ages.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dion
People
Dion + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dion 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
Dion: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dion?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,525 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dion 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 18,502 US residents.
Is Dion a common name?
We classify Dion as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,002 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dion most popular?
The single biggest year for Dion was 1970, when 607 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dion is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dion in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,898 people with the name Dion, or 4.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,903 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 Dion 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 Dion?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dion leans strongly male. 13,771 people counted with this name were male (92.4%), compared with 1,131 female bearers (7.6%). 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 Dion?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dion is Black at 52.0%. The next largest groups are White (27.3%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Dion most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dion in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.0% (7,740 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 Dion in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dion a male name?
Yes, 93.8% of people registered as Dion 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 Dion still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dion 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 Dion 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 Dion?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.