Head to head · Girls' names
Davina vs Mikayla
#749 vs #746 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Mikayla is a whisker ahead (#746 vs #749 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. 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, Mikayla leads 4 measures of 6; Davina 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
- 1910s: Davina #4417, Mikayla — — Davina higher
- 1920s: Davina #4244, Mikayla — — Davina higher
- 1940s: Davina #3701, Mikayla — — Davina higher
- 1950s: Davina #2977, Mikayla — — Davina higher
- 1960s: Davina #1718, Mikayla — — Davina higher
- 1970s: Davina #796, Mikayla #6745 — Davina higher
- 1980s: Davina #1030, Mikayla #2580 — Davina higher
- 1990s: Davina #1387, Mikayla #295 — Mikayla higher
- 2000s: Davina #1992, Mikayla #146 — Mikayla higher
- 2010s: Davina #1284, Mikayla #329 — Mikayla higher
- 2020s: Davina #636, Mikayla #661 — Davina higher
Davina stood higher in 8 of 11 decades; Davina took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Davina | Mikayla |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4417 | — |
| 1920s | #4244 | — |
| 1940s | #3701 | — |
| 1950s | #2977 | — |
| 1960s | #1718 | — |
| 1970s | #796 | #6745 |
| 1980s | #1030 | #2580 |
| 1990s | #1387 | #295 |
| 2000s | #1992 | #146 |
| 2010s | #1284 | #329 |
| 2020s | #636 | #661 |
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
Davina
Beloved
Davina is built directly on David, from Hebrew Dawid, long understood as 'beloved'. The -ina ending is a feminine suffix, not a separate element with a meaning of its own.
Dawid → David → Davina
How it traveled
David came into European use from the Hebrew Bible, and it took particularly deep root in Scotland, where two medieval kings of Scots carried it — David I in the twelfth century and David II in the fourteenth. Scottish naming custom liked to pass a father's or grandfather's name to a daughter by adding a feminine ending, which is how Davina appears in Scottish records from the seventeenth century onward, alongside sisters of the same pattern like Georgina and Williamina.
Mikayla
Who is like God? — a feminine form of Michael
The Hebrew name Mikha'el is built as a rhetorical question, not a statement; Michaela and its respellings, Mikayla among them, are the feminine forms.
Mikha'el → Michael → Michaela → Mikaela → Mikayla
How it traveled
Michael comes from the Hebrew Mikha'el, borne in scripture by the archangel who appears in the Book of Daniel and again in Revelation, and the name spread with Christianity across Greek, Latin and every language of Europe. Feminine forms followed — Michaela in German and Czech, Micaela in Spanish and Italian, Mihaela in Romanian — each pronounced according to local rules.
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
Davina
duh-VEE-nuh
The Scottish and British standard is duh-VEE-nuh. Some American speakers say duh-VY-nuh, with the middle syllable rhyming with 'shine'. Both are in real use, so expect to state your preference now and then.
- Vina — The most common clipped form, taken from the stressed middle syllable; also used on its own as a given name.
- Dava — Informal short form from the first half of the name.
- Dee — An initial-based nickname shared with many D names, used casually rather than on documents.
- Davie — Borrowed from the David side of the family tree; used for boys and girls alike in Scotland.
- Also Vinnie.
Mikayla
mih-KAY-luh
Stress on the middle syllable. The spelling makes that pronunciation almost automatic for English speakers, which is much of the reason this form exists.
- Kayla — The back half of the name, and a full given name in its own right in the United States — some Mikaylas go by it everywhere outside the classroom register.
- Mika — Informal short form; also stands alone as a given name in several languages.
- Mickey — Older-style short form shared with Michael and Michaela; used affectionately rather than formally.
- Mik — Clipped one-syllable form, mostly spoken rather than written.
- Also Kay, Mimi.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Davina if you want…
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 69% for Mikayla
Choose Mikayla if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMikayla is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowMikayla is stepping back from its peak
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
Davina
Strengths
- Its meaning is unambiguous and easy to explain: it is David, 'beloved', in a feminine form.
- The spelling follows directly from a name almost everyone already knows, so it is usually written correctly once heard.
- Several established short forms — Vina, Dava, Dee — give a child options without needing a second name.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate: duh-VEE-nuh and duh-VY-nuh. Neither is wrong, but she will correct people occasionally, and the correction is a lifelong small habit.
- The close cousins Davinia, Davena and Davida sound similar enough that some people will reach for the wrong one when writing it down.
- The link to David is transparent, so people may assume there is a David in the family and ask about it. Fine if there is one, mildly repetitive if there isn't.
Mikayla
Strengths
- Reads correctly at first sight for English speakers — the spelling was built around the pronunciation rather than inherited from Latin or Greek.
- Rests on Michael, a name with an unbroken documented record of well over two thousand years and forms in nearly every European language.
- Comes with short forms already in circulation: Kayla, Mika, Mickey — including some that work as full names on their own.
To consider
- The spelling is one of several in active use — Michaela, Mikaela, Makayla, Micaela and McKayla all sound alike or nearly so. Expect to spell it out often, and expect forms to come back wrong.
- It is closely tied to one recent stretch of American naming, so it reads as contemporary rather than inherited. Many adults now carrying it are in their twenties, which shapes how the name lands on a baby.
- Kayla sits inside it and can quietly take over as the everyday name. Worth deciding in advance whether that suits you.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Davina
40%chance Davina feels dated by 2040
Davina sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Mikayla
69%chance Mikayla feels dated by 2040
Mikayla is coming down from a big peak (#82 in 1998). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Davina and Mikayla 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 Davina and Mikayla?
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 Davina and Mikayla each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Davina or Mikayla — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Davina or Mikayla?
- Mikayla, in 2025: Mikayla ranked #746 with 364 babies; Davina ranked #749 with 363 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Davina or Mikayla?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Davina moved down 119 places; Mikayla moved down 202 places.
- Which is the older name, Davina or Mikayla?
- Davina entered the US charts in 1916; Mikayla entered the US charts in 1970. On the American record, Davina is the older name.
- How many people are named Davina and Mikayla?
- About 11,000 people named Davina are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 56,000 people named Mikayla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Davinas or Mikaylas in the classroom?
- Davina will almost certainly be the only one in school. Mikayla 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 Davina, Mikayla and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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