Name Awesome

Dex

#4,896 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Dexter

Dex has been given to 658 babies in the U.S. since 1952. In 2025 it ranked #4,896 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 43 recorded.

Babies named Dex, 2025

1 in 166,000

Dex over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Dex: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Dexter

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Dex means

Dex is a short form of Dexter.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Dex → Dexter. The family’s meaning is “one who dyes”, recorded in the naming reference for Dexter.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Dexter.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 658 boys were recorded with the name Dex between 1952 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 43 in 2016; its best national rank was #2,741 in 1985.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #3,356 in 2020 to #4,896 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,004 in 2015 to #4,896 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Dex?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 166,000
20 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 85,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,896
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
114,896 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dex sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 114,896 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dex. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dexs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dex was born before 2015 — so the typical Dex is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
41.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
75.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
658
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 41.3% of all recorded uses (272).

Is Dex rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,074
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,540
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−892
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.77×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
46.5%
Peak was 2016 (43)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,741
1985

Where Dex is used

Across 1910–2025, Dex was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,307,688 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Illinois1 in —
  3. 3Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Dex has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Dex around the world

Where Dex ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2002–2024
    #4,271
    in 2024
  • Canada
    2009–2024
    #2,550
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Dex by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,896
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,540
Best rank ever
#2,741
1985
Peak year
2016
43 that year
First recorded
1952
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
658
Count in 2025
20

Names similar to Dex

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DextonMaddexDextynDextenDextinMadexDexterDexx

Sibling names for Dex

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Dex

Top names of 2016, Dex's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1985Boys' names starting with D