The Dean surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 114,030 people carried this name — #269 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 2,590 people counted. That is up 4% from 109,230 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Dean surname
A habitational surname from Middle English from Middle English dene “valley”.
As an English surname, from Middle English dene (“valley”).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Dean» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 629 people named Dean live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Santa Fe.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 237 people named Dean.
47 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 31 départements, most often Ille-et-Vilaine.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
91 people named Dean live in Switzerland.
They live in 11 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Geneva.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In the Nordic population registers
115 people named Dean are counted in Sweden and Finland.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published. Finland counts its citizens, at home or abroad.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown) · Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland, surname statistics, August 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s
Dean was found among the farmers of 12 counties.
It was most frequent in Wiltshire: 40 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 250. Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent. His list gives one count for the spellings Dean and Deane.
Where it concentrates, on the mapPer 10,000 farmers, by county
And 4 more counties.
H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.
In print
Dean in American newspapers,
1887–1963.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 1,821,475 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Dean,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Amos Dean 1803–1868 -
Jemmy Dean 1816–1881 · cricketer -
Sidney Dean 1818–1901 · politician -
Gilbert Dean 1819–1870 · judge -
Benjamin Dean 1824–1897 · lawyer
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 150 lives in all are documented under this name.
Other spellings of this name
The same name, spelled another way.
Spellings that H. B. Guppy (England and Wales, 1890) or the Registrar-General for Ireland (births index of 1890) counted as one name together with Dean.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Dean.
When the index is not enough
This page says where Dean is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.