Daphine
Feminine · “laurel”
Daphine inserts an i that adds a syllable the standard spelling does not have. It is also worth knowing that the shrub sold in garden centers under this name is not the plant of the myth. The mythological one is bay laurel, the cooking herb; the garden one is a completely unrelated family with poisonous berries and a famous scent.
How old is the name Daphine?
Daphine first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Daphine alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 900 people named Daphine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Daphine most popular?
Daphine peaked in 1933, reaching #1311 nationally. See the whole 1933 chart.
Where it comes from
From The Greek word for the bay tree to Daphine
The story of Daphine
Botanical naming has a habit of reusing classical names for plants the classical world would not recognize, and this is one of the clearer cases. The genus that carries the name in modern taxonomy belongs to a family of small ornamental shrubs, grown for a scent that is genuinely remarkable in late winter and for berries that will make you extremely ill. The plant of the story is bay laurel, an entirely different family, evergreen, aromatic, and still sold in every supermarket as a cooking herb. Somebody in the eighteenth century applied the classical name to the wrong plant and it stuck, which is how a name meaning one shrub ended up officially attached to another one, with the original left carrying a Latin name instead.
Meaning
laurel
The Greek word for the bay tree, used as a personal name and as the name of a nymph in the story about its origin. The reading is settled. What is worth adding is which plant: the classical laurel is the culinary bay, whose leaves went into victors' wreaths and into stew, and not the ornamental shrub that carries the name in modern horticulture.
How the name formed
- The Greek word for the bay tree
- A nymph and a story about the tree's origin
- Daphne as an English name from the eighteenth century
- Daphine, with an extra syllable on paper
Related forms: Dafni · Daphne · Dafne
Pronouncing Daphine
DAF-neen
This spelling suggests three syllables, daf-EE-nuh or DAF-een, where the standard name has two. Families using it divide, and the two readings are audibly different names, so it is worth settling which one you mean before the certificate is filed.
Nicknames for Daphine
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 196249 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1311reached in 1933
- Change vs 2007
- −28.6%5 in 2010, from 7
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.
Daphine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dafni in Greek — same name
- Daphne in French — same name
- Dafne in Italian — same name
Daphines among us
people named Daphine 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
Daphine 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
- The meaning is concrete and pleasant and can be explained in a word.
- It is a genuine Greek name with a continuous record rather than a modern flower name.
- The extra syllable gives it a softer rhythm than the standard form.
- The number of syllables is genuinely unsettled and needs establishing.
- Daphne is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected into it.
- The garden shrub carrying the name is poisonous, which children discover and enjoy.
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Daphine
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Daphines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Daphine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Daphine in 2025?
- Daphine is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Daphine with classmates?
- Daphine 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 Daphine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Daphine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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