Dakarai
Masculine · “rejoice”
Dakarai is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,493 boys against 18 girls since 1880.
Dakarai is a Shona name from Zimbabwe, and it is an imperative rather than a noun: rejoice. Shona naming often gives a whole sentence, and this is one of the shortest.
How old is the name Dakarai?
Dakarai first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Dakarai alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 1,500 people named Dakarai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dakarai most popular?
Dakarai peaked in 2009, reaching #2099 nationally. Today it ranks #3658, 1,559 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Dakarai
Shona naming is unusually direct: a child's name often records the circumstances of the birth or addresses the family or God, and the names are ordinary Shona sentences rather than inherited forms. Dakarai belongs to that tradition. It reached American records in the 1990s onward, chiefly through African-American families choosing African names, and it is used in Zimbabwe throughout.
Meaning
rejoice, be happy
From Shona, where the name functions as an exhortation to be glad; Shona given names are frequently full statements or instructions — Tafadzwa, we are made happy, and Kudakwashe, the will of God, are of the same kind.
Pronouncing Dakarai
dah-kah-RY
Three syllables with the stress at the end. Shona gives all three roughly even weight.
Nicknames for Dakarai
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1973
- Most boys named
- 200965 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2099reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%30 in 2025, from 30
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dakarai in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dakarai in Shona — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, Michigan.
Dakarais among us
people named Dakarai are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 56,936 born in 2025 was named Dakarai
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Obryan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dakarai's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Obryan climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Obryan's path sketches the road Dakarai is walking now.
Dakarai 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Dakarai is headed
Dakarai should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Dakarai beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dakarai in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that is an instruction to be glad, which is a good thing to carry.
- It belongs to a living naming tradition with a very large community.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- English readers do not know where the stress falls and will guess.
- Eight letters and three syllables is a fair amount for American forms.
- Outside Zimbabwean and African-American communities it needs explaining.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Dakarai
Masculine · #3658 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dakarais are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Dakarai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dakarai in 2025?
- Dakarai ranks #3658 among US boy names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dakarai?
- About 1 in every 56,936 US boys born in 2025 was named Dakarai — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dakarai with classmates?
- Dakarai will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dakarai
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jimmie#3658 · Mckinley#3658 · Menno#3658 · Claudio#3658 · Ezekial#3658 · Brandt#3658 · Benuel#3658 · Gustav#3658
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dakarai? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dakarai and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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