Dakotah
Feminine · “allies”
Dakotah is given to both — 2,314 girls and 3,151 boys since 1880. See Dakotah as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Dakotah is the state names' spelling with an h added, and the states took the word from the Dakota people, who are still here and still called that.
How old is the name Dakotah?
Dakotah first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Dakotah alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 2,300 people named Dakotah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dakotah most popular?
Dakotah peaked in 1995, reaching #1730 nationally. Today it ranks #4067, 2,337 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dakhóta to Dakotah
The story of Dakotah
Dakota Territory was divided into two states in 1889 and the name went with them, which is how a nation's word for itself became a place on a map and then a personal name. The word entered American given naming in the twentieth century from outside the community. Families considering it should know that many Dakota people regard the use of the nation's name as a given name by outsiders as inappropriate.
Meaning
allies, friends
From the Dakota word for an ally; the two American states were named in 1889 for the nation whose land they were taken from. The final h is an American spelling addition with no basis in the Dakota word.
How the name formed
- Dakhóta
- Dakota
- Dakotah
Related forms: Dakhóta · Dakota
Pronouncing Dakotah
dah-KOH-tah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The final h is silent.
Nicknames for Dakotah
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
- 1984
- Most girls named
- 201088 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1730reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −37.5%35 in 2025, from 56
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.
Dakotah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dakhóta in Dakota — same name
- Dakota in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Michigan.
Dakotahs among us
people named Dakotah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was named Dakotah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Dakotah
- #4067
- Dakotah on the 2025 chart
- #292
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Dakotah went to 35 girls in 2025, but Dakota is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,070, which makes it the 292nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,775 places above the chart.
- Dakota1,035
- Dakotah35
About 1 girl in 1,502 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 45,922 for Dakotah itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Odean test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dakotah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Odean climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Odean's path sketches the road Dakotah is walking now.
Dakotah 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 Dakotah is headed
Dakotah 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.
Dakotah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dakotah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning in a living language, and a genuinely good one — allies.
- Kota and Koda are both usable short forms in current use.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- It is a living nation's name for itself, and many Dakota people object to its use by outsiders.
- This is worth asking about rather than assuming, and the answer belongs to that community.
- The final h is silent and Dakota without it is the standard spelling.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Dakotah
Feminine · #4067 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dakotahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Dakotah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Dakotah?
- Dakotah is one of 2 recorded spellings. Dakota is the more common one — 1,035 births in 2025 against 35 for Dakotah.
- How popular is the name Dakotah in 2025?
- Dakotah ranks #4067 among US girl names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dakotah?
- About 1 in every 45,922 US girls born in 2025 was named Dakotah — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dakotah with classmates?
- Dakotah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dakotah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eli#4067 · Peace#4067 · Medina#4067 · Darlin#4067 · Anja#4067 · Sparrow#4067 · Liani#4067 · Salina#4067
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dakotah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dakotah and another name?
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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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