# Dale (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/dale/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /deɪl/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Dayle |
| US babies named this | 300,043 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 278,156 / 21,887 (7% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 1,631, 1996 to 2025 |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 14 | 7,688 |
| 2004 | 9 | 10,896 |
| 2005 | 10 | 10,315 |
| 2006 | 7 | 13,936 |
| 2007 | 8 | 12,959 |
| 2008 | 10 | 10,997 |
| 2010 | 5 | 17,640 |
| 2013 | 11 | 9,753 |
| 2014 | 5 | 17,179 |
| 2016 | 8 | 12,043 |
| 2017 | 5 | 16,450 |
| 2018 | 5 | 16,254 |
| 2021 | 9 | 10,477 |
| 2023 | 5 | 15,733 |
| 2025 | 5 | 15,450 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 166 | 1,110 |
| 2012 | 165 | 1,116 |
| 2013 | 146 | 1,229 |
| 2014 | 181 | 1,072 |
| 2015 | 177 | 1,096 |
| 2016 | 173 | 1,124 |
| 2017 | 150 | 1,223 |
| 2018 | 127 | 1,388 |
| 2019 | 118 | 1,468 |
| 2020 | 131 | 1,356 |
| 2021 | 130 | 1,409 |
| 2022 | 115 | 1,551 |
| 2023 | 130 | 1,408 |
| 2024 | 149 | 1,308 |
| 2025 | 129 | 1,410 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 6 | 2,350 |
| 1997 | 3 | 3,824 |
| 1998 | 4 | 3,142 |
| 2001 | 3 | 3,998 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 27 | 999 |
| 2012 | 19 | 1,313 |
| 2013 | 19 | 1,294 |
| 2014 | 19 | 1,327 |
| 2015 | 29 | 996 |
| 2016 | 16 | 1,570 |
| 2017 | 14 | 1,703 |
| 2018 | 15 | 1,610 |
| 2019 | 8 | 2,488 |
| 2020 | 10 | 2,076 |
| 2021 | 9 | 2,301 |
| 2022 | 8 | 2,529 |
| 2023 | 5 | 3,523 |
| 2024 | 8 | 2,671 |
| 2025 | 7 | 2,952 |

## People named Dale

- Dale Carnegie, American writer and lecturer (1888-1955)
- Dale T. Mortensen, American economist (1939–2014)
- Dale Robertson, American actor (1923-2013)
- Dale Earnhardt, American racing driver (1951-2001)
- Dale Gardner, American astronaut (1948–2014)
- Dale Evans, American actress, singer and writer (1912–2001)
- Dale Crover, American drummer
- Dale Bumpers, American politician (1925–2016)
- Dale Earnhardt Jr., American racecar driver
- Dale Davis, American basketball player (born 1969)
- Dale Stephens, English association football player (born 1989)
- Dale Begg-Smith, freestyle skier

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.