Dean is an English surname with two roots: the Old English denu, "valley", for someone who lived in one, and the Latin decanus, "dean", for a church official. Singer Dean Martin and actor James Dean gave it mid-century cool, and the TV series Supernatural brought it back for a younger generation. Dean ranked number 376 in 2000 and number 204 in 2015, and has risen to number 125 in 2025, its best rank this century.