Dow
Dow is a boy's name that peaked in 1962, when it was the 1,546th most popular in the United States. It has not appeared in the national data since 2015. About 420 Dows are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 63.
Popularity, 1880–2025
boys named Dow
By the numbers
- Total US births
- 1,091
- Estimated living today
- 420
- Median age today
- 63
- Peak year
- 1962
- Best rank
- 1,546th
- Rank in 2025
- unranked
- First recorded
- 1880
How old the living Dows are
born that year still alive today
Of the 1,091 babies given the name since 1880, about 420 are alive — 39 in every hundred. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 1962 and half after.
An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.
Where the name comes from
Variant of Daw from David or daw, and of Duff from Scottish Gaelic.
Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where Dow is most common
Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.
Names of 1962
The most popular boys’ names the year Dow peaked:
Try it on yourself
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.