Dewey

Dewey is the 3,025th most common surname in the United States, shared by 11,620 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 25,700.

By the numbers

People: 11,620
Rank: 3,025th
How common: 1 in 25,700
Per 100,000: 3.9

Where the name comes from

Origin Old French

Possibly from a place name in Northern France, Douai. Welsh origin from Dewi (David) has also been suggested.

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Dewey described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 88.9%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.7%
Hispanic or Latino 3.0%
Black, not Hispanic 1.9%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 1.5%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 1.0%

Notable people called Dewey

John Dewey (1859–1952)American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer
Melvil Dewey (1851–1931)American librarian
Thomas E. Dewey (1902–1971)American politician
George Dewey (1837–1917)United States Navy admiral
Tommy Dewey (born 1978)American actor

People named Dewey with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Dewey

Also a first name

Dewey has been given to 34,920 American babies as a first name since 1887, peaking in 1898. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.