Head to head · Girls' names
Dallas vs Dayana
#686 vs #716 in 2025
Dallas is ahead (#686 vs #716 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Dallas is holding its place on the charts, Dayana is stepping back from its peak.
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, Dallas leads 3 measures of 6; Dayana leads 2.
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
- 1890s: Dallas #1264, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1900s: Dallas #1287, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1910s: Dallas #1235, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1920s: Dallas #1283, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1930s: Dallas #1332, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1940s: Dallas #1570, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1950s: Dallas #1725, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1960s: Dallas #2287, Dayana — — Dallas higher
- 1970s: Dallas #1792, Dayana #6307 — Dallas higher
- 1980s: Dallas #1318, Dayana #3050 — Dallas higher
- 1990s: Dallas #804, Dayana #1369 — Dallas higher
- 2000s: Dallas #1144, Dayana #626 — Dayana higher
- 2010s: Dallas #724, Dayana #535 — Dayana higher
- 2020s: Dallas #645, Dayana #578 — Dayana higher
Dallas stood higher in 11 of 14 decades; Dayana has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Dallas | Dayana |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1264 | — |
| 1900s | #1287 | — |
| 1910s | #1235 | — |
| 1920s | #1283 | — |
| 1930s | #1332 | — |
| 1940s | #1570 | — |
| 1950s | #1725 | — |
| 1960s | #2287 | — |
| 1970s | #1792 | #6307 |
| 1980s | #1318 | #3050 |
| 1990s | #804 | #1369 |
| 2000s | #1144 | #626 |
| 2010s | #724 | #535 |
| 2020s | #645 | #578 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Dallas
most likely 'meadow dwelling' or 'meadow by the waterfall'
The Scottish place name behind it is read two ways. One reading takes it from Brythonic or Pictish elements meaning roughly 'meadow' and 'dwelling'; the other from Gaelic dail ('meadow, haugh') with eas ('waterfall'). Both point at low green ground beside water, which is why the two readings sit together comfortably rather than canceling each other out.
Dallas (lands in Moray, Scotland) → Dolays (medieval Scottish surname) → Dallas (Scottish surname) → Dallas (given name)
How it traveled
The lands of Dallas lie in Moray, and by the medieval period a family had taken their name from them, appearing in Scottish records in forms such as Dolays before settling into the modern spelling. Emigration carried the surname to North America, where — as happened to Scottish surnames generally — it began to be handed out as a first name.
Dayana
Most often read as "divine, heavenly" — the sense behind Diana
The main reading takes Dayana as a phonetic spelling of Diana, whose name goes back to a Latin root connected with daylight and the divine, giving "heavenly" or "divine". A second route is through the longer name Dayanara, which has circulated in Puerto Rico and the wider Caribbean and has no agreed etymology of its own. The form Dayana is also in independent use in Russian- and Turkic-speaking countries, where it may have arrived through Diana as well.
Diana (Latin) → Diana (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) → Dayana
How it traveled
Diana was the Roman goddess of the moon, wild animals and the hunt, and her name — from a root tied to daylight and the sky — was already old when the Empire spread it across Europe. It survived the fall of Rome as an ordinary given name in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Romania, and by the twentieth century it was common in Latin America too.
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
Dallas
DAL-us
Stress on the first syllable. The second is an unstressed 'us' or 'is' depending on region; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
- Dal — The usual clipped form, informal and mostly spoken rather than written.
- Dally — An affectionate family form, used more with small children than with adults.
Dayana
dah-YAH-nah
That is the Spanish reading, and the one the spelling is built for. Many English speakers say day-ANN-uh instead, treating it as a version of Diana. Both are in real use, so families with roots in either language usually settle on one early and correct gently.
- Daya — The most common short form in everyday Spanish-speaking use; also stands alone as a given name in South Asia.
- Yana — Taken from the end of the name; a standalone given name in Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian.
- Ana — Informal, drawn from the last two syllables; a full given name in its own right across the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world.
- Dai — Very informal, mostly family and close friends.
- Also Nana.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Dallas if you want…
- a name most people already know#686 in 2025, 413 babies that year
- a name with fewer syllablesDallas is 2 syllables to Dayana's 3
Choose Dayana if you want…
- a name fewer children share#716 in 2025 — dayana will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsDayana is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itDayana runs 3 syllables, Dallas 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Daya, Yana and Ana
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
Dallas
Strengths
- Unbroken presence in American records since the earliest years of national name statistics — long familiarity, without ever having been a crowd.
- A spelling nobody has to be told twice: the city has taught it to every English speaker.
- Given to both boys and girls, so the name itself needs no adjustment either way.
To consider
- The place association is unavoidable. Most people will think of the Texas city, the football team, or the television series that ran from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, and some will hear the city's link to the Kennedy assassination.
- Strongest in Texas, Georgia and California — inside Texas especially, the name and the city are hard to separate, which may read as local pride or as a lot to carry.
- It leans boy in the records. A girl named Dallas is in a real but smaller group, and may occasionally be assumed a boy on paper before she is met in person.
Dayana
Strengths
- Instantly recognizable as a form of Diana, so the name needs no explaining even where the spelling is new to someone.
- Works in both Spanish and English mouths, with a pronunciation that follows the letters in either language.
- Several ready-made short forms — Daya, Yana, Ana — all of which also work as full names.
To consider
- Dayana, Dayanna, Daiana, Dyana and plain Diana all sound close enough to be confused. Expect to spell it out, and expect Diana to be the default guess on forms and in email.
- The two pronunciations — dah-YAH-nah and day-ANN-uh — can pull in different directions between school, family and work. Most bearers pick one and simply repeat it.
- It has stepped back a little from its strongest years, so a child is likely to be the only Dayana in her class — pleasant for some families, and something to think about if being the only one is not what you want.
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 Dallas and Dayana 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 Dallas and Dayana?
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 these names appear on
Where Dallas and Dayana each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Dallas or Dayana — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Dallas or Dayana?
- Dallas, in 2025: Dallas ranked #686 with 413 babies; Dayana ranked #716 with 392 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Dallas or Dayana?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Dallas moved down 54 places; Dayana moved down 105 places.
- Which is the older name, Dallas or Dayana?
- Dallas entered the US charts in 1892; Dayana entered the US charts in 1970. On the American record, Dallas is the older name.
- How many people are named Dallas and Dayana?
- About 14,500 people named Dallas are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 15,500 people named Dayana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Dallass or Dayanas in the classroom?
- Dallas will almost certainly be the only one in school. Dayana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. 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 Dallas, Dayana and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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