He’s a rebel, he’s a crooner, he’s an academic.
Thanks to Sarah for suggesting the surprisingly evergreen Dean as our Baby Name of the Day.
Sarah actually suggested Dean because it sounds the same as deen, an Arabic word that translates roughly to religious, and has – I think – something of an intellectual, spiritual vibe. The similarity makes Dean a culture-spanning choice.
But really he’s a fairly common English language name. I can’t find his first use, but he’s always appeared in the US Top 1000, and he ranked in the Top 100 from 1956 through 1969.
Three notable figures help propel the name to popularity:
- Born Dino Crocetti, Dean Martin was a member of the Rat Pack who found success in movies, music, and television from the 1940s into the 1970s. His legend endures, as do hits like “Volare” and many of his classic film appearances;
- James Dean made Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden in 1955, and Giant one year later. In 1956, he died in a car crash at the age of 24. Dean became the first actor to win a posthumous Oscar, and endowed his name with a perpetual cool;
- Second only to the Beach Boys, surfer duo Jan and Dean consisted of Jan Berry and Dean Torrence. They peaked in the early 1960s with hits like “Dead Man’s Curve.” The curve is a real stretch of road outside of LA, and the pair’s career was cut short when Berry nearly died in a car accident on Dead Man’s Curve. Torrence went on to a career as a Grammy-award winning designer of album cover art.
It was James Dean’s untimely demise that catapulted his surname into the Top 100, but there’s more than one origin for Dean:
- As a last name, it likely comes from the Middle English dene and Old English denu – valley. Plenty of places on the map share the name;
- Alternately, the Late Latin decanus referred to the commander of ten soldiers, from the Greek deka – ten. The church borrowed the term, and it became deien in Old French. By the sixteenth century, it referred to a college administrator. This makes Dean another occupational surname possibility;
- Dino is best known as Fred Flinstone’s pet dinosaur, but it is also a diminutive in Italian for names like Agostino and Valentino, as well as an independent given name.
Other notable Deans from the past century or so include:
- Dean Acheson served as Secretary of State under President Truman. Acheson developed the Marshall Plan, as well as much of Cold War foreign policy in the 1940s and 50s;
- There’s a character by the name in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Dean Moriarty was based on Neal Cassady, a major figure of the era;
- Dean Cain took up Christopher Reeve’s cape as Superman on the small screen;
- Tori Spelling’s husband Dean shares the spotlight in their reality TV series;
- Dean Koontz churns out bestselling supernatural horror stories;
- Fellow Gryffindor Dean Thomas attends Hogwarts with Harry Potter;
- Supernatural’s Dean Winchester, along with his brother Sam, hunts demons, spirits, and other things that go bump in the night.
The name also shows up in the middle spot:
- Richard Dean Anderson was television’s mullet-sporting can-do guy MacGyver;
- Harry Dean Stanton was Molly Ringwald’s ne’er-do-well dad in Pretty in Pink and creepy polygamist cult leader Roman Grant in Big Love;
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan has appeared in Grey’s Anatomy and Supernatural.
The biggest strike against Dean is the number of dads who currently answer to the name. But that also helps explain his current rank – #305 – in the US. He might not qualify as a stylish choice, but he remains a solid option.
I like Dean, it’s one you don’t hear much. A good friend of mine is pregnant with a little boy to be named Dean Patrick. Her older child is Aislin.
I quite like Dean, even though he’s briefer than the names I usually prefer. One Dean that comes to mind when I hear this name is is Dean Priest, a main character in the Emily books by L.M. Montgomery (of Anne of Green Gables fame).
My 5 year old son (my 3rd boy) is named Dean. He is named after my grandmother’s maiden name. Thanks for featuring it as the name of the day!
Jen
It’s my brother’s middle name and also his goddaughter’s middle name. Since in both cases it was picked for “flow” rather than family significance, I don’t know how to feel about the name. I like the short, snappy sound, but it feels a bit disposable, like other trendy names of the 60’s (Troy, Chad, Jay…) Like nicole mentioned “it doesn’t sparkle”, but I could see it working well with the right surname.
Dean Rusk was Sec. of State under both Kennedy and Johnson.
No. This is firmly in the Roger, Wayne, Trevor and Darrell pile for me. 100% naff.
I’m not particularly fond of titles as names – Dean, Sargeant, Princess, Deacon, etc. Too confusing.
Thanks for covering this Abby! I admit that I never would have thought of Dean as a legitimate culture spanning choice until acquaintances named their 15 month old son Deen 🙂 I’m not sure if I like the Deen spelling, but it’s difficult when a certain transliteration has become the standard. I can’t decide if Deen would be one of those cases where the non-standard spelling has meaning so it’s okay to use it, or if it would just be setting the poor kid up for constant misspellings of his name.
I had no idea that Dean was so evergreen, that’s definitely a thumbs up for me! It’s so important to me that a name have some history, so always ranking in the Top 1000 is a bonus. And I don’t actually know anyone named Dean, except it’s my nephew’s middle name.
However, as a graduate student with a circle of academic friends, I wonder if Dean is too much for us. In conversations it’s not uncommon to use the phrase ‘well, my dean, blah blah’ so it might be odd to have a little Dean as well.
All in all, Dean rests firmly in the middle of many lists. He’s not hubby’s favorite, but he’s growing on me 🙂
Another fictional TV Dean to add to the list: Gilmore Girls’ Dean Forester, Rory’s first love. He went on to play Sam in Supernatural, where his brother was – as you mentioned above – named Dean. THAT must have been confusing!
Add in Jeffrey Dean Morgan and there does seem to be a strong connection between the name Dean and Supernatural!
Dean, gross! Give me Jess anyday. (the Stars Hollow rebel, not the name.)
Dean has a lot of good associations. I have often wondered if it should be on the “list” because of Dean Martin. I am a huge standards fan and had many songs by him and Sinatra at our wedding, but you can most often find him playing on my stereo as my husband and I cook and dance in the kitchen.. so very good and loving associations. But something seems to be missing, not sure, it just doesnt have sparkle for me. It is sort of funny too because the 3 names on our ‘list” for boys are also one syllable names but Dean gets vetoed every time… hmmmm
I love this name. We have a little Dean that lives up the street. I had not given the name a second thought until he was born but I think it is great. Classic and cool.
I kind of want to use Dean as a nickname for Gideon. But it’s a strong, stand alone name too!
Dean sounds like such a cool guy name. Nms but it could be a great alternative to the popularity of Jack, Ian, Owen and Evan.
I adore Dean. Breezy, a little jazzy and just plain neat. I’ve always loved Dean, even as a kid. It gives me a very smart, beatnik-type vibe. Maybe because of Kerouak, but I doubt it. I thought this of Dean as a 12 year old and didn’t read “On the Road” until I was in my mid-teens.
The movie “Iron Giant” has a very appealing Dean in it too. He befriends Hogarth, who befriends the titular Giant. It’s one of my very favorite cartoons. Andd my Mother always said she married Pop because he looked like Dean Martin. (He did resemble Dino quite a lot, too!)
All in all, I utterly adore Dean. I suggested it as a name for one of the boys, in response to his suggestions of James & Nicolas. Dean is almost as classic and a lot breezier to me.
Dean is just fabulous! *sigh* 😀
My first kiss was to a guy named Dean so I have fond memories of it 😉