There is a hidden magic in some names. It appears that Dewey is one of them. Again and again, the name crops up around innovators, pioneers and shapers of industry. Dewey is, arguably, the most legendary name in American history.
In 2020, Deweys are hard to come by, and yet history paints a different story. From education to entertainment, sports, psychology, music to military, you find notable Deweys in every corner of society. See for yourself.
- Admiral George Dewey - only person to attain the rank of "Admiral of the Navies", the highest honor in the United States Navy.
- Melvil Dewey - librarian, creator of the 1874 Dewey Decimal Classification for libraries, used in 135 countries today.
- Miles Dewey Davis - musician, genre-defining trumpeter. Birth of cool. Kind of Blue.
- Dwight 'Dewey' Evans - baseball player, most underrated player in Red Sox history.
- Dr. John Dewey - education reformer, psychologist, philosopher, founder of the New School.
- Dewey Finn - education reformer, introduced era-defining musical pedagogy 🤘🏼
- Dewey Schunk - human-centered technologist, 21st century polymath.
You may be thinking, there are countless notable Americans named Smith or James. True, and those names are ubiquitous. According the Official Social Security Website, James has been one of the 10 most popular male names in America 100 of the last 120 years. Dewey, on the other hand, peaked as the 75th most popular name in the country 120 years ago. Today, Dewey is not in the top 1000, and it hasn't been since 1986. In all likelihood, you don't know a single Dewey.
Given the relative rarity of the name and large sample of noteworthy Dews, I will say it again. Dewey is, per capita, the most legendary name in American history. To counteract my hopelessly biased opinion (I am a Dewey, after all) the truth will require rigorous inquiry. A few points, questions and clarifications to consider.
- Is there any statistical evidence of people's names positively impacting their success in life?
- What other names are in the running for this very special, arbitrary award?
- How do we measure legendary-ness?
- How common is the name Dewey? How has its popularity changed over time?
- Is there a difference in outcomes between given and inherited names?
- What happens if someone changes their name to Dewey?
- How about alternate spellings? (Fun: Melvil Dewey, a spelling reformist, temporarily changed his name to "Dui")
And so begins a quest to understand the power of a name. Over the coming months, I'll dig into these questions and the lives of famous Deweys to declare, once and for all, how legendary Dewey really is.
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