Name Awesome

Dudley

#11,013 in 2025Boys' name

Dudda's clearing

Dudley has been given to 11,988 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #11,013 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1931, with 279 recorded.

Babies named Dudley, 2025

1 in 553,000

Dudley over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Dudley: meaning, origin, and history

Dudda's clearing

surname transfer

What Dudley means

Dudley means “Dudda's clearing”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Old English, literally "wood or clearing of Dudda (a personal name of unknown meaning)".

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Dudley (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Dudley is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Dudley is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Dudley is pronounced /ˈdʌdli/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 11,868 boys were recorded with the name Dudley between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 279 in 1931; its best national rank was #291 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #8,948 in 2020 to #11,013 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #9,833 in 2015 to #11,013 in 2025.

In the United States, 120 girls were recorded with the name Dudley between 1914 and 1950. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1928; its best national rank was #3,197 in 1944.

How common is Dudley?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,013
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dudley 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dudley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dudleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dudley was born before 1939 — so the typical Dudley is around 86 today.

Median birth year
1939
About 86 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
16.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
2.0%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
4,053
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 16.5% of all recorded uses (1,964).

Is Dudley 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
−2,513
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,065
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,180
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.86×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
2.2%
Peak was 1931 (279)
Years since peak
94
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#291
1881

Spellings of Dudley

Dudley is the most-used spelling, taking 34.7% of the 34,154 babies given a near-identical spelling.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Dudley is used

Across 1910–2025, Dudley was most concentrated in Louisiana — about 1 in 2,941 boys, against 1 in 23,055 across all states with data. It was least common in Kansas (1 in —).

034 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Louisiana1 in 2,941
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 5,000
  3. 3Kentucky1 in 8,333
  4. 4Tennessee1 in 10,000
  5. 5Alabama1 in 11,111
  6. 6Texas1 in 14,286
  7. 7Virginia1 in 16,667
  8. 8Georgia1 in 20,000

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. Dudley has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Dudley around the world

Where Dudley 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
    1996–2024
    #4,271
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    1964–1971
    #304
    in 1971
  • Canada
    2021–2021
    #2,619
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1944–2004
    #589
    in 2004

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Dudley

People whose public names include Dudley, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Dudley by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,013
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,065
Best rank ever
#291
1881
Peak year
1931
279 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
11,868
Count in 2025
6

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,197
1944
Peak year
1928
9 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
1950
All-time count
120
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Dudley

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

OakleyAshleyFinleyBaileyKelleyMarleyWestleyHuxleyConleyWileyHarleyCharleyFinnleyPresleyMckinleyHadleyRyleyArleyRadleyHenleyRidleyKingsleyLesleyBriley

Names with a curve like Dudley

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Dudley, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

VernSanfordNedWinfredLinwoodNorrisBarneyWeldonOdellDeeMerrillThurman

Sibling names for Dudley

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 Dudley

Top names of 1931, Dudley's peak yearThe 1930s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881More old man namesBoys' names starting with D