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Dustin vs William

How Dustin and William compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Dustin

Male · English

Meaning: A Fighter. Actor Dustin Hoffman.

William

Male · German

Meaning: Resolute Protector: Will. For A Long Time After The Norman Conquest In A.D. 1066 Many English Boys Were Given Some Form Of William The Conquer's Name. William. The Firstborn Son Of Prince Charles Is Named William.

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Dustin (boys) vs William (boys), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Dustin William
Peak year (most US births) 1985 — 10,439 boys 1947 — 67,001 boys
Peak rank #41 #4
Most recent rank (2025) #729 (365 births) #9 (10,545 births)
Total US births since 1880 191,746 4,199,549
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 4,551 127,126

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, William reached 67,001 US births in 1947 — 56,562 more than Dustin's peak count.

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name list.

Dustin — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Montana #210 18
2 West Virginia #281 56
3 Mississippi #363 72
4 New Mexico #371 16
5 Idaho #373 35

William — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Alabama #1 3,254
2 South Carolina #2 2,682
3 Mississippi #2 1,586
4 Tennessee #2 4,126
5 Georgia #2 5,159

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →