Dakota
Feminine · “friend”
Dakota is given to both — 41,458 girls and 93,118 boys since 1880. See Dakota as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Dakota began as a word from the Dakota language meaning "friend" or "ally" — the name a people call themselves — before it was ever a state, a territory, or a name on a birth certificate. It has three unhurried syllables with the weight in the middle, and it reads correctly on sight for almost anyone in the United States. It has been given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers for decades now.
How old is the name Dakota?
Dakota first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Dakota alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 41,000 people named Dakota are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dakota most popular?
Dakota peaked in 2006, reaching #190 nationally. Today it ranks #295, 105 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dakȟóta to Dakota
The story of Dakota
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. As a personal name it followed later, riding the American taste for place names and Western words, and it arrived on the national charts in the second half of the twentieth century. From the beginning it was given to both boys and girls, and the split has stayed close to even ever since.
Meaning
friend, ally
From Dakȟóta, the self-designation of the Dakota people, one of the divisions of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (commonly called Sioux).
How the name formed
- Dakȟóta
- Dakota Territory
- Dakota
Pronouncing Dakota
duh-KOH-tuh
Three syllables, stress on the second — identical to the two states, so it needs no explaining in the US.
Nicknames for Dakota
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 20061,839 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #190reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −10.8%1,035 in 2025, from 1,160
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.
Dakota in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Dakotas among us
people named Dakota are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,553 born in 2025 was named Dakota
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 Gretchen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dakota's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gretchen climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gretchen's path sketches the road Dakota is walking now.
Dakota 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 Dakota is headed
Dakota should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Dakota beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dakota in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- On the charts continuously for decades without ever crowding a classroom.
- 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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Dakota to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Dakota
Feminine · #295 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dakotas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 41,000 people named Dakota are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dakota in 2025?
- Dakota ranks #295 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,035 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dakota?
- About 1 in every 1,553 US girls born in 2025 was named Dakota — 1,035 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dakota with classmates?
- Dakota will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dakota
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Blake#295 · Maggie#294 · Aylani#293 · Leia#297 · Esme#298 · Poppy#292 · Elowyn#299 · Sawyer#290
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dakota? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dakota 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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