How common is the surname Dale?

29,757 people in the United States had the surname Dale in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 10,376 Americans. It ranked 1,188th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Dale?

James Badge Dale, American actor, followed by Jim Dale.

Where is the surname Dale most common?

Wikidata records people named Dale in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Is the surname Dale getting more or less common?

More common. 28,994 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 29,757 in 2010, up 2.6%.

Is Dale also a first name?

Yes. Dale is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Dale

A surname, carried by 29,757 people in the United States.

Pronounced /deɪl/ 1 syllable Soundex D400 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Dale is more common than 99.3% of them.

Origin

A surname from Middle English for someone living in a dale.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 29,757 people named Dale in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 10,376 Americans. That is up 2.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 28,994.

#1,188

rank among US surnames

29,757

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+2.6%

change since 2000 (was #1,103)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,179	Farris	29,877	10,334
#1,180	Tracy	29,867	10,337
#1,181	Bacon	29,860	10,340
#1,182	Han	29,847	10,344
#1,183	Gibbons	29,824	10,352
#1,184	Mayfield	29,805	10,359
#1,185	Hoang	29,798	10,361

Who is named Dale

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

78% of people named Dale identified as white (not Hispanic), 14% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 78%
Black (not Hispanic) 14%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 2.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Dales

8 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

James Badge Dale
American actor, born 1978
Jim Dale
British actor, singer and songwriter, born 1935
Esther Dale
American actress (1885–1961)
Virginia Dale
American actress (1917-1994)
Grover Dale
American actor, dancer and choreographer, born 1935
Porter H. Dale
American politician (1867–1933)
Richard Dale
American admiral (1756-1826)
Benjamin Dale
British composer (1885–1943)

Notable Dales come mostly from the United States (6) and the United Kingdom (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Dayle

Surnames that sound like Dale

Dale has the Soundex code D400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D400.

Questions

How common is the surname Dale?: 29,757 people in the United States had the surname Dale in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 10,376 Americans. It ranked 1,188th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Dale?: In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named Dale identified as white (not Hispanic), and 14% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Dale?: James Badge Dale, American actor, followed by Jim Dale.
Where is the surname Dale most common?: Wikidata records people named Dale in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Dale?: Dale is /deɪl/, one syllable.
Is the surname Dale getting more or less common?: More common. 28,994 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 29,757 in 2010, up 2.6%.
What are other spellings of Dale?: Dayle.
Is Dale also a first name?: Yes. Dale is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.