Head to head · Boys' names
Cody vs Dakota
#318 vs #319 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Cody is a whisker ahead (#318 vs #319 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Cody leads 5 measures of 6; Dakota leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Cody #888, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1890s: Cody #993, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1900s: Cody #1265, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1910s: Cody #1562, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1920s: Cody #1900, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1930s: Cody #1591, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1940s: Cody #1361, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1950s: Cody #878, Dakota — — Cody higher
- 1960s: Cody #607, Dakota #4042 — Cody higher
- 1970s: Cody #261, Dakota #2620 — Cody higher
- 1980s: Cody #75, Dakota #985 — Cody higher
- 1990s: Cody #31, Dakota #90 — Cody higher
- 2000s: Cody #94, Dakota #155 — Cody higher
- 2010s: Cody #229, Dakota #340 — Cody higher
- 2020s: Cody #304, Dakota #334 — Cody higher
Cody stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Cody | Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #888 | — |
| 1890s | #993 | — |
| 1900s | #1265 | — |
| 1910s | #1562 | — |
| 1920s | #1900 | — |
| 1930s | #1591 | — |
| 1940s | #1361 | — |
| 1950s | #878 | — |
| 1960s | #607 | #4042 |
| 1970s | #261 | #2620 |
| 1980s | #75 | #985 |
| 1990s | #31 | #90 |
| 2000s | #94 | #155 |
| 2010s | #229 | #340 |
| 2020s | #304 | #334 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Cody
- Scotland#70
Dakota
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Cody
Either "descendant of the helpful one" or "son of Óda"
Cody anglicizes two different Irish surnames. Ó Cuidighthigh comes from cuidightheach, a word for a helper or supporter. Mac Óda means son of Óda, an Irish form of the Norman name Odo. Both lines produced families spelled Cody in English, and there is no way to sort one household from the other after four centuries of anglicization.
Óda → Mac Óda / Ó Cuidighthigh → Cody (Irish surname) → Cody (given name)
How it traveled
The name is Irish before it is anything else — a surname from Kilkenny and the southeast, written Ó Cuidighthigh or Mac Óda in the Irish and flattened to Cody by English-speaking clerks. Irish emigration carried it into the United States through the nineteenth century, where it stayed a surname first: William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody, showman and army scout, gave the name to the Wyoming town he helped found.
Dakota
friend, ally
From Dakȟóta, the self-designation of the Dakota people, one of the divisions of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (commonly called Sioux).
Dakȟóta → Dakota Territory → Dakota
How it traveled
Dakota is the name the Dakota people use for themselves, and the word carries the sense of allies or friends — kin bound to one another. English speakers borrowed it as a geographic label: Dakota Territory was organized in 1861, and in 1889 it was divided into the two states that keep the name today.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Cody
KOH-dee
Stress on the first syllable. Pronounced the same way in American, British and Irish English, and almost never misread.
- Code — The usual informal clip among friends and teammates; rarely written down.
- Codes — Casual, mostly spoken, common in families and among schoolmates.
- C.J. — Used when a middle initial is available; functions as an alternative everyday name rather than a shortening.
Dakota
duh-KOH-tuh
Three syllables, stress on the second — identical to the two states, so it needs no explaining in the US.
- Kota — The most-used short form for either sex; also given occasionally as a standalone name.
- Dak — Clipped, informal, more often heard for boys.
- Kodi — A phonetic short form some families use; overlaps in sound with the separate name Cody.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Cody if you want…
- a name holding steadyCody is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesCody is 2 syllables to Dakota's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooCody is on the national lists of Scotland
Choose Dakota if you want…
- a name on the way upup 27 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itDakota runs 3 syllables, Cody 2
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Cody
Strengths
- Two syllables, phonetic spelling, no silent letters — a child can write it early and adults get it right on first hearing.
- Has been on American birth records since the nineteenth century, so it reads as familiar rather than newly coined.
- Travels well in English-speaking countries; it also charts in Scotland.
To consider
- Kody, Codie and Coty are all in real use, so expect to spell it aloud now and then — though the plain Cody spelling is the one most people default to.
- The name is strongly linked to the American West and to Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West shows. That association is friendly enough, but it is there.
- Most people carrying this name today are adults rather than children, so it may register to some ears as a grown-up's name — which also means a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
Dakota
Strengths
- Spelling and pronunciation are already known to nearly every American, thanks to the two states — rarely misheard, rarely respelled.
- Works unchanged for a boy or a girl, with no separate feminine or masculine form to choose between.
- Has real short forms in use — Kota, Dak — for the times a three-syllable name is one syllable too many.
To consider
- The near-even gender split means the name alone won't tell a teacher, a coach or a form-reader which child is coming. Some parents like that; others find themselves clarifying often, and it tends to fall harder on whichever side is smaller in a given town.
- This is the living name of a living nation, not a decorative word. Some Dakota people have written about non-Native use of it. That is worth reading about honestly before you decide, rather than after.
- In much of the country the name still reads as a place first — the state, the plains, the highway sign. That association is warm for many people, but it is unlikely to fade.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Cody and Dakota in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Cody and Dakota?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Cody and Dakota — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Cody or Dakota — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Cody or Dakota?
- Cody, in 2025: Cody ranked #318 with 1,076 babies; Dakota ranked #319 with 1,074 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Cody or Dakota?
- Dakota. Over the last five years Cody moved down 21 places; Dakota moved up 27 places.
- Which is the older name, Cody or Dakota?
- Cody entered the US charts in 1884; Dakota entered the US charts in 1966. On the American record, Cody is the older name.
- How many people are named Cody and Dakota?
- About 282,000 people named Cody are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 91,000 people named Dakota are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Codys or Dakotas in the classroom?
- Cody will almost certainly be the only one in school. Dakota will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Cody, Dakota and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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