Dawson
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Meaning
surname, "son of David"
The story
Dawson wears its family tree openly: an English surname meaning son of David, with all of David's beloved warmth folded inside it. For a hundred years it barely moved in American records, holding the same faint line from the 1890s through the 1980s. Then a television teenager named Dawson Leery arrived in 1998, and the name jumped in the records in the very same decade Dawson's Creek ruled teen television; we cannot prove the connection, but the timing is hard to ignore. More surprising is what happened after the show faded: instead of receding like many screen-born names, Dawson kept climbing through the 2000s and 2010s and holds its record level in the 2020s. The creek dried up; the name kept flowing.
Dawson across languages
One shared root links 7 names across 3 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Dawid, traditionally interpreted as "beloved"; the name of the shepherd king
The constellation
More branches
How popular is Dawson around the world?
In the United States, 13,859 babies were named Dawson between 2020 and 2025. In Canada, 250 boys named Dawson were born in 2024, the 127th most common name among boys that year.
Dawson is on the official records of the United States, Canada, Scotland, South Australia, Ireland, England and Wales, France and Brazil.
United States
1 in 1,600
In the United States, 13,859 babies were named Dawson between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Dawson peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 1,400
In Canada, 250 boys named Dawson were born in 2024, the 127th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Scotland
1 in 4,200
In Scotland, 11 boys named Dawson were registered in 2024, the 330th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
1 in 4,6002017
In South Australia, 4 boys were registered as Dawson in 2017.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Ireland
1 in 6,800
In Ireland, 8 boys named Dawson were born in 2025, the 432nd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
England and Wales
1 in 7,200
In England and Wales, 81 boys named Dawson were born in 2025, the 478th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
France
1 in 64,000
In France, about 10 boys named Dawson were born in 2025, ranked 2,345th among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Brazil
1 in 1M
At the 2022 census, 218 people in Brazil were named Dawson, ranked 23,913th, with a median age of 38.
Among people named Dawson living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Dawson
Most people given the name Dawson in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Dawson · Names that go with Dawson · Middle names for Dawson
The Dawson deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Dawson truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Dawson fits with your family’s names and surname.
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