Duke
A masculine name of French origin meaning "leader".
Name Census estimates that about 9,507 living Americans carry the first name Duke. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Duke today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Duke births was 2018 (529 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Duke. 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 Duke with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.5K
~ 1 in 36,053 Americans
Peak year
2018
529 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#709
Tracked since 1880
Census
Duke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,032 people with the first name Duke, which placed it at #2,865 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
#2,865
National first-name rank
People counted
8.0K
8,032 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Duke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Duke is White at 61.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.6%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Duke 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 Duke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.9% · 4,970
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.6% · 933
- Black or African American10.5% · 842
- Hispanic or Latino7.6% · 611
- Two or more races7.1% · 570
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 106
Popularity
Duke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Duke from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,698 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Duke remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Duke 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 Duke during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dukes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, Hawaii recorded the most babies named Duke, while West Virginia, New Mexico, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 155 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Duke
The name Duke has its origins in the Latin word "dux", which means "leader" or "commander". It emerged as a title of nobility in the late Roman Empire, referring to military commanders and governors of provinces.
During the Middle Ages, the title of Duke became an important rank of nobility in various European countries, with dukes holding significant power and authority over territories or regions within a kingdom or empire. The name Duke was initially associated with this aristocratic title and was sometimes given to the firstborn sons of dukes.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Duke as a given name can be traced back to the 12th century, when it appeared in English records. It is believed that some noble families began using the title as a first name to reflect their social status and lineage.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Duke. One of the most famous was Duke Ellington (1899-1974), an American composer, pianist, and leader of a highly influential jazz orchestra. His innovative style and compositions significantly impacted the development of jazz music.
Another well-known Duke was Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968), a Native Hawaiian swimmer and surfing pioneer. He popularized surfing as a sport and helped introduce it to the world, earning him the title "Father of Modern Surfing".
In the literary world, Duke Elric was the legendary protagonist of Michael Moorcock's influential fantasy series "The Elric Saga", which began in the 1960s and spanned several novels and short stories.
Duke Nukem, a fictional character from the popular video game series of the same name, first appeared in 1991. He became an iconic figure in the gaming world, known for his brash attitude and over-the-top action sequences.
In the realm of sports, Duke Snider (1926-2011) was a legendary American baseball player who spent most of his career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980 and was renowned for his powerful hitting and defensive skills.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Duke
People
Duke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Duke 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
Duke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Duke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,507 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Duke 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 36,053 US residents.
Is Duke a common name?
We classify Duke 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, 11,200 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Duke most popular?
The single biggest year for Duke was 2018, when 529 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Duke is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Duke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,032 people with the name Duke, or 2.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,865 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 Duke 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 Duke?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Duke appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,029 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Duke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Duke is White at 61.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.6%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Duke most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Duke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.9% (4,970 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 Duke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Duke a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Duke 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 Duke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Duke 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 Duke 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 Americans are named Duke?
See how many people have the name Duke on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.