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Dwaine

Boys' name

Variant of Duane

Dwaine has been given to 4,362 babies in the U.S. since 1916. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1959, with 112 recorded.

Babies named Dwaine, 2024

1 in 418,000

Dwaine over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Dwaine: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Duane

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Dwaine means

Dwaine is a variant of Duane.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Dwaine is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈdweɪn/ for Dwaine.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Dwaine → Duane. The family’s meaning is “black, dark”, recorded in English with the source elements dubh.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Duane.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,362 boys were recorded with the name Dwaine between 1916 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 112 in 1959; its best national rank was #702 in 1951.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Dwaine?

Dwaine had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 418,000
8 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 215,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
289,633 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dwaine 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 2024 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 289,633 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dwaine. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dwaines were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dwaine was born before 1956 — so the typical Dwaine is around 69 today.

Median birth year
1956
About 69 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
21.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.7%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,773
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 21.3% of all recorded uses (930).

Is Dwaine 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1959 (112)
Years since peak
66
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#702
1951

Spellings of Dwaine

Dwaine is not the most common spelling — Wayne is, with 51.4% against Dwaine's 0.63%.

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 Dwaine is used

Across 1910–2025, Dwaine was most concentrated in Nebraska — about 1 in 10,000 boys, against 1 in 96,435 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Nebraska1 in 10,000
  2. 2Iowa1 in 20,000
  3. 3Minnesota1 in 33,333
  4. 4Ohio1 in 50,000
  5. 5California1 in 100,000
  6. 6Illinois1 in 100,000
  7. 7Louisiana1 in 100,000
  8. 8Michigan1 in 100,000

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

Dwaine around the world

Where Dwaine 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
    1997–2008
    #3,687
    in 2008
  • Ireland
    1987–1995
    #334
    in 1995
  • South Australia
    1967–2011
    #487
    in 2011

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

Dwaine in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Dwaine. Linked forms have their own page here.

DwainDwayne

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Dwaine by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#702
1951
Peak year
1959
112 that year
First recorded
1916
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
4,362
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Dwaine

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

DivineKaineDwaneDwainCaineLaineZaineTremaineDwayneDevineCarmineJamaineBlaineGermaineRomaineTramaineAntoineJustineLamineDuaineValentineShaineRaineDwan

Names with a curve like Dwaine

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

JameCurtissLenDennieWallyRolfVernellFarrellLesleyDelDouglassGaylon

Sibling names for Dwaine

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 Dwaine

Top names of 1959, Dwaine's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1951Boys' names starting with D