Dannika
Feminine · “morning star”
Dannika is Danica with a doubled n and a k, a Slavic name for the morning star. Its best-known American bearer drove racing cars and became the first woman to win an IndyCar race.
How old is the name Dannika?
Dannika first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Dannika alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 600 people named Dannika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dannika most popular?
Dannika peaked in 2008, reaching #3158 nationally. See the whole 2008 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From dan to Dannika
The story of Dannika
In South Slavic languages the planet Venus, rising before the sun, is danica, the little day, and the word has long been a girl's name there. In America it became known through Danica Patrick, who raced in IndyCar and NASCAR and became the first woman to win an IndyCar race. Dannika takes the name and writes it the way English readers expect it to sound, with a doubled n and a k.
Meaning
morning star
In Croatian, Serbian and Slovene, danica is the morning star, the planet Venus, from dan, day. As a name it is common across the former Yugoslavia.
How the name formed
- dan
- danica
- Danica
- Dannika
Related forms: Danica · Danica · Danica
Pronouncing Dannika
DAN-ih-kuh
Stress on the first syllable in English. In Croatian and Serbian, DAH-nee-tsah.
Nicknames for Dannika
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 200853 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3158reached in 2008
- Change vs 2019
- −30.0%7 in 2020, from 10
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.
Dannika in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Danica in Croatian — same name
- Danica in Serbian — same name
- Danica in Slovene — same name
Dannikas among us
people named Dannika are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Dannika sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Its meaning, morning star, is clear and lovely.
- Dani and Nika give two short forms.
- It connects to a famous American athlete.
- People will write Danica or Danika.
- Slavic speakers will pronounce it differently, with a ts sound.
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Dannika
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Dannikas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Dannika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dannika in 2025?
- Dannika is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Dannika with classmates?
- Dannika will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dannika? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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