Dodd
A masculine name derived from the Old English word for a rounded hill.
Name Census estimates that about 253 living Americans carry the first name Dodd. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dodd today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dodd births was 1964 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dodd. 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
253
~ 1 in 1,354,760 Americans
Peak year
1964
35 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1973 SSA rank
#4,193
Tracked since 1938
Census
Dodd in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 340 people with the first name Dodd, which placed it at #27,081 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
#27,081
National first-name rank
People counted
340
340 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dodd
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dodd is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Dodd 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 Dodd at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.5% · 294
- Black or African American7.9% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 8
- Two or more races1.8% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 5
Popularity
Dodd: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dodd from the 1930s through to the 1970s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 208 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dodd 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 Dodd during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dodds live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dodd
The given name Dodd is an English name with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is thought to have originated as a nickname derived from the Old English word "dodde," which referred to a person with a rounded or bald head. This nickname likely emerged in the 12th or 13th century as a descriptive term for someone with a distinct physical feature.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dodd can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire from the year 1176, where a person named Dodde is mentioned. This suggests that the name was in use as a personal identifier during the latter part of the 12th century in England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Dodd. One of the most famous was Charles Dodd, an English Roman Catholic priest who lived from 1672 to 1742. He was a prominent figure in the Jacobite movement and was executed for his involvement in the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Another significant figure was Ralph Dodd, an English engraver and portrait painter who lived from 1756 to 1822. He is renowned for his skillful engravings of notable figures from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including portraits of Samuel Johnson and Lord Nelson.
In the literary world, James Dodd, an English author and poet who lived from 1805 to 1888, made his mark. He is best known for his narrative poem "The Solitary Hunter" and his contributions to periodicals such as Blackwood's Magazine.
Robert Dodd, an English Anglican clergyman and controversialist who lived from 1748 to 1816, was another prominent individual with this name. He was involved in various religious disputes and published several works defending the Church of England against dissenting groups.
Finally, William Dodd, an English Anglican clergyman and author who lived from 1729 to 1777, gained notoriety for his involvement in a forgery scandal. Despite his initial success as a preacher and author, he was ultimately convicted of forgery and executed at Tyburn.
People
Dodd + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dodd 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
Dodd: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dodd?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 253 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dodd 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 1,354,760 US residents.
Is Dodd a common name?
We classify Dodd as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 306 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dodd most popular?
The single biggest year for Dodd was 1964, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dodd is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dodd in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 340 people with the name Dodd, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,081 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 Dodd 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 Dodd?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dodd leans strongly male. 330 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 18 female bearers (5.2%). 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 Dodd?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dodd is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Dodd most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dodd in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.5% (294 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 Dodd in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dodd a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dodd 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 Dodd still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dodd 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 Dodd 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 Dodd as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Dodd on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.