Given name & surname · also Old English
Dexter
“a right-handed man; one who is skillful”
Dexter is used as a given name and a surname. One Latin interpretation is “a right-handed man; one who is skillful.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Latin interpretation is “a right-handed man; one who is skillful.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Old English.
How it developed
It entered given-name use through an existing surname.
The story
Its naming history includes the use of a family name as a given name.
Dexter through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 36,800
- 36,582 boys · 218 girls
- Most popular year
- 2012
- 842 babies
- 2025
- 393
- #693 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −34%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 393 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 693 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 34.0% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 842 in 2012. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (30). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 26,692 as a first name in 2020; 9,351 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Dexter’s family of names
Dexter has a short form in Dex. In Portuguese usage, Dexter shares an earlier linguistic root with DESTRO. Dexter has a related form in Dexton.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Dexter has relatives in 6 languages. Lines run from its Latin roots to each of them.
6 related names in 6 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 15
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 6
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Dexter
- Dexter GordonAmerican jazz saxophonist (1923–1990)
- Dexter FletcherEnglish actor and directorborn 1966
- Dexter JacksonAmerican bodybuilderborn 1969
- Dexter BlackstockAntigua and Barbuda footballerborn 1986
- Dexter DardenAmerican actorborn 1991
- Dexter FowlerAmerican baseball playerborn 1986
- Dexter PittmanAmerican basketball player (born 1988)
- Dexter LawrenceAmerican football player (born 1997)
- Dexter KingAmerican civil rights activist (1961-2024)
Characters named Dexter: Dexter Morgan (Dexter).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Dexter, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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