The baby name Dean covers a lot of territory in just a single syllable.
Thanks to Sarah for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
ACADEMIC
Dean started out as a title, originally for a leader of ten men in the Roman army. It later applied in civil and religious settings, too. And by the sixteenth century, it referred to an administrator in an academic setting – Dean of Students, or perhaps Dean of a specific college.
The last use is the one that remains most familiar today.
In some cases, it led to the surname Dean.
But Dean can also come from the Old English denu – valley. That makes the baby name Dean a place name and nature name, too – at least some of the time.
RELIGIOUS
A dean had a place in Christian religious settings. But it also sounds the same as deen, an Arabic word that translates as faith. It’s also spelled Din.
That adds a layer of meaning, and adds some potential cross-cultural appeal to the baby name Dean, too.
FROM DEAN TO DINO
Speaking of cross-cultural names, Dean matches up neatly with Dino.
In romance languages – especially Italian – families tacked -ino onto boys’ names. (Think Bernardino or Martino.) Names ending with -dino and -tino could shorten to Dino. Eventually, Dino stood on its own, too.
Dino Crocetti, the son of Italian immigrants in Steubenville, Ohio, re-invented himself as a world-famous performer. He took the name Dean Martin.
His long career spanned the 1940s into the 1980s. A member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack, Martin’s career spanned live performances, recordings, television, and film. Known as “the King of Cool” for his unshakable confidence, Martin ties the name to midcentury cocktail culture. You’ve almost certainly heard him croon “Volare” or “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You.”
REBELLIOUS
Then came James Dean.
He 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. But more than his movies, he’s a cultural icon. We all recognize James Dean – especially the Rebel movie pose – even if we’ve never seen his movies.
Songs by everyone from The Eagles to The Wrecks immortalized him.
The actor endowed the baby name Dean with a perpetual cool.
One more vote for Dean as counter culture cool? Jack Kerouac’s On the Road featured a character named Dean Moriarty, based on real life Beat Generation standard-bearer Neal Cassady.
BY THE NUMBERS
In 1900, the baby name Dean ranked #308.
It reached the Top 100 in 1956, a mix of Martin and James pushing the name into greater use.
Surf rock duo Jan and Dean – Jan Berry and Dean Torrence – scored a series of hits in the 1960s, like 1963’s “Surf City” and 1964’s “Dead Man’s Curve.”
By 1967, the baby name Dean peaked at #78.
It was the age of Scott, Todd, Troy, and Craig. They were cool, edgy, different – names that stood out compared to the classic stand-bys that topped the popularity charts for so long.
But by the 1990s, the name had fallen into the 300s – not obscure, but far from stylish. A new generation of brisk boy names – think Kai, Lane, Cade, and Reid – were gaining. The baby name Dean seemed left behind.
SMALL SCREEN DEAN
Except, of course, a handful of those 1960s-born Deans made names for themselves.
Beginning in 1993, Dean Cain starred in the smash hit ABC Series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. It made Cain a household name, though the baby name Dean continued to slide.
In late 2000, the world went to Stars Hollow, and met a mother-daughter duo in the Gilmore Girls. We also met daughter Rory’s first crush, local boy Dean Forester. He’s played by Jared Padalecki over five seasons, and even cameos in the Netflix reboot. (Spoiler alert: they don’t end up together.)
But neither the real nor the fictional small screen Dean could reverse the name’s course. And the timing fits, of course – a name that peaked circa 1967 should be heading for style limbo thirty-plus years later.
SUPERNATURAL
Back to Jared Padalecki, who played Rory’s boyfriend on Gilmore Girls.
In 2005, he was cast as Sam Winchester, demon hunter, on The WB’s Supernatural. Jensen Ackles played Sam’s brother … Dean.
And their dad, John Winchester, was played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, just to sprinkle one more use of the baby name Dean.
The show was a hit, featuring the brothers facing off against ever more evil creatures, and unraveling disasters of increasing complexity. Oh – and they do it all in a 1967 Impala, for no payment whatsoever. Despite the occasional case of demonic possession, they’re the good guys.
Supernatural has run for an epic fifteen seasons, set to end at the end of 2020. That’s an entire generation of parents growing up hearing Dean as the name of a handsome, self-sacrificing hero.
Incidentally, Castiel – another character from the series – also entered the US Top 1000 as a result of the show.
AN EARLY REVIVAL
The numbers bear this out. In 2005, the baby name Dean ranked a chilly #383 – respectable, but clearly stuck in style limbo.
Five years later, it had climbed to #285. And of 2019? It sits at #174.
Of course, this generation of parents might also think of Harry Potter’s fellow Gryffindor classmate, Dean Thomas. Or any of the other Deans, from James to Rory’s boyfriend, along the way.
All of this has sparked a mini revival for the baby name Dean, half a century earlier than we might’ve expected it. The result is a rock solid name for a son that feels just the tiniest bit stylish, but also something of a modern traditional.
With steady use for over a century, call it a modern classic. And, as it remains well outside of the current Top 100, it might also be just trend-resistant enough to feel refreshingly different, too.
What do you think of the baby name Dean? Does it feel fresh and new to you, or more like a dad name?
First published on May 3, 2011, this post was revised and re-published on October 30, 2020.
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 😉