girl's name
Dawn
DAWN
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 1
- Letters 4
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 295,975
Northern Ireland
#493
2006 births
Dawn is a girl's name taken directly from the English word for daybreak, and it is the English counterpart of Aurora rather than a translation of it. Our data marks it stable, and it peaked in 1970.
- Dawn is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1970, when 15,724 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 39,005 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1888.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Dawn over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 5 |
| 1890s | 26 |
| 1900s | 30 |
| 1910s | 357 |
| 1920s | 1,491 |
| 1930s | 3,776 |
| 1940s | 8,669 |
| 1950s | 39,010 |
| 1960s | 114,607 |
| 1970s | 92,799 |
| 1980s | 22,520 |
| 1990s | 4,334 |
| 2000s | 1,577 |
| 2010s | 923 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 556 |
What Dawn means
Dawn means daybreak, or the first appearance of light. It is the ordinary English noun used unchanged as a name, so the meaning is exact rather than reconstructed.
Where Dawn comes from
Dawn is the English word, a back-formation from the older dawning, itself from the Old English dagian, to become day. Its use as a name belongs to the twentieth-century fashion for plain English word-names that also produced Summer, Autumn, Faith and Hope. It is often described as an English form of Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn, but that is not a derivation: the two names mean the same thing in different languages and have no shared history. Aurora entered English through mythology; Dawn came straight from the dictionary.
Dawn in use
Dawn peaked in the United States in 1970, when 15,724 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now ranks 1107th in Ireland, 2193rd in the United States on 85 births and 3680th in England and Wales, across 295,975 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Our records carry it from 1888, but almost all of that volume falls within thirty years of the peak.
How popular is Dawn?
In 2025, Dawn was given to 85 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Dawn is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Dawn
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Dawn also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Dawn over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Dawn in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Dawn
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Dawn — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Dawn
What does the name Dawn mean?
Daybreak — the ordinary English word, used unchanged.
Is Dawn the English form of Aurora?
Not by derivation. The two mean the same thing in different languages but have no shared history.
When was Dawn popular?
It peaked in 1970 with 15,724 American births.
How popular is Dawn?
2193rd in the United States, and our data marks it stable.
Is Dawn a girl's or a boy's name?
Dawn is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Dawn?
Dawn has 1 syllable.
Is Dawn a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Dawn currently ranks #1,107 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.