Dwan
A feminine name of Welsh origin meaning "wanderer".
Name Census estimates that about 1,927 living Americans carry the first name Dwan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 57.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Dwan today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dwan births was 1983 (239 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dwan. 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
- • Dwan sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 177,869 Americans
Peak year
1983
239 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,725
Tracked since 1924
Census
Dwan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,626 people with the first name Dwan, which placed it at #8,799 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
#8,799
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,626 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dwan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dwan is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are White (19.7%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Dwan 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 Dwan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.0% · 1,154
- White19.7% · 320
- Two or more races4.0% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Dwan
Dwan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,131 total registrations, 1,221 (57.3%) were male and 910 (42.7%) were female.
Dwan as a male name
- Ranked #12,725 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1983 (66 births)
Dwan as a female name
- Ranked #13,780 in 1991
- 5 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1983 (173 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dwan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,632 people counted with this name, 848 were male (52.0%) and 784 were female (48.0%).
Popularity
Dwan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dwan from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 658 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dwan 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 Dwan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dwans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Dwan, while Pennsylvania, Maryland, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dwan
The first name Dwan is of Welsh origin, derived from the word "dŵn," which means "deep" or "profound." This name has its roots in ancient Celtic culture and was likely first used during the medieval period in Wales and surrounding regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dwan can be found in the 12th-century Welsh manuscript known as the "Black Book of Carmarthen." This medieval manuscript contains a collection of poetry and prose, including references to individuals with the name Dwan.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Dwan ap Gruffydd was mentioned in historical records as a prominent Welsh landowner and chieftain. He played a role in the conflicts between the Welsh and English during the late medieval period.
During the 16th century, a Welsh poet named Dwan Siôn was renowned for his lyrical compositions and contributions to the literary culture of his time. His works were widely celebrated and helped to preserve the Welsh language and traditions.
In the 19th century, Dwan Evan Jones (1827-1901) was a Welsh minister and author who wrote extensively on religious and philosophical topics. His publications were influential in shaping the intellectual discourse of his era.
Another notable individual with the name Dwan was Dwan Michael Baxter (1885-1962), a Welsh-born artist and illustrator who gained recognition for his landscape paintings and illustrations for children's books in the early 20th century.
While the name Dwan has its origins in Welsh culture, it has been adopted and used in various parts of the world over the centuries. However, it remains relatively uncommon, particularly outside of Wales and the broader Welsh diaspora.
People
Dwan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dwan 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
Dwan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dwan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,927 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dwan 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 177,869 US residents.
Is Dwan a common name?
We classify Dwan as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,131 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dwan most popular?
The single biggest year for Dwan was 1983, when 239 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dwan is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dwan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,626 people with the name Dwan, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,799 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 Dwan 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 Dwan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dwan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,632 people counted with this name, 848 were male (52.0%) and 784 were female (48.0%). 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 Dwan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dwan is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are White (19.7%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Dwan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dwan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (1,154 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 Dwan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dwan a male name?
Yes, 57.3% of people registered as Dwan 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 Dwan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dwan 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 Dwan 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 Dwan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.