Dariana
Feminine · “From Daria”
Dariana joins two things people already know how to say: Daria, the feminine of the old Persian royal name Darius, and the -ana ending that carries Mariana, Adriana and Luciana. It has been most at home in Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, and its record here is short and recent — a name still mostly worn by young people rather than by their grandparents. Four syllables, all vowels open, with the weight landing on the third.
How old is the name Dariana?
Dariana first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Dariana is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,300 people named Dariana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dariana most popular?
Dariana peaked in 2000, reaching #837 nationally. Today it ranks #1150, 313 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dārayavahuš to Dariana
The story of Dariana
Darius was the name of Persian kings of the sixth and fifth centuries BC, and it reached Europe through Greek historians who wrote it Dareios. The Latin feminine Daria traveled widely from there, becoming a long-standing name in Italian, Romanian, Polish and Russian. Dariana is the newer elaboration of that root, built the way Spanish and Romanian speakers have long extended short feminine names — Adriana from Adria, Mariana from Maria. In the United States its record begins in the late twentieth century, and its strength in Texas, California and Florida tracks the Spanish-speaking families who brought it into wider use.
Meaningscholars disagree
From Daria, feminine of Darius — Old Persian for "holding firm the good"
The first element is not in doubt: Daria comes from Darius, Greek Dareios, from Old Persian Dārayavahuš, usually read as "holding firm the good" or "possessing goodness." What competes is the tail. One reading treats -ana as the ordinary Romance extension that also produced Mariana and Adriana, adding no separate meaning. The other treats the name as a compound of Daria and Ana, the Spanish form of Hannah, "grace" or "favor." Both are plausible and neither can be proved for any individual family's choice.
How the name formed
- Dārayavahuš
- Dareios
- Darius
- Daria
- Dariana
Related forms: Dariana · Dariana · Darianna · Daryana · Daria · Daria
Pronouncing Dariana
dah-ree-AH-nah
That is the Spanish reading, with the stress on the third syllable and every vowel kept open. English speakers often say dair-ee-AN-uh, with a flatter final syllable. Both are in real use; whichever you pick, expect to correct the other one now and then.
Nicknames for Dariana
High
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
- 2000267 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #837reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- −5.6%201 in 2025, from 213
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.
Dariana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dariana in Spanish — same name
- Dariana in Romanian — same name
- Darianna in English — spelling variant
- Daryana in Russian — transliteration
- Daria in Italian — related form
- Daria in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Darianas among us
people named Dariana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,996 born in 2025 was named Dariana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Dariana
- #1150
- Dariana on the 2025 chart
- #706
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Dariana went to 201 girls in 2025, but Darianna and Daryana are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 259, which makes it the 706th most-given girls’ name of the year — 444 places above the chart.
- Dariana201
- Darianna48
- Daryana10
About 1 girl in 6,206 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 7,996 for Dariana 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 Shantell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dariana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shantell climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shantell's path sketches the road Dariana is walking now.
Dariana is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Dariana is headed
Dariana looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Dariana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dariana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Every part of it is already familiar in American English — Aria, Ana, Adriana — so most people can attempt it on first sight without help.
- Several ready-made short forms, including Daria, which stands on its own as a formal name in half a dozen European languages.
- Sits comfortably in both Spanish and English, useful in a bilingual household where one name has to work in two mouths.
- Its root runs back to the Persian royal name Darius, a documented line of well over two thousand years.
- Distinctive in an American classroom without being unfamiliar in sound.
- Darianna, Daryanna and Daryana all exist, and Daniela and Adriana sit close by in sound. Expect to spell it out on forms and to be misheard as Ariana fairly often.
- The stress falls differently in Spanish and in English, so the name may come back to you in two versions depending on who is saying it. Families settle this easily, but it takes deciding.
- Its use here is recent and concentrated in a few states, so outside those areas people may not have met it before — pleasant for some children, tiring for others.
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What they receive
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Dariana
Feminine · #1150 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darianas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,300 people named Dariana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Dariana?
- Dariana is the most-used spelling in US records — 201 of the 259 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Darianna and Daryana.
- How popular is the name Dariana in 2025?
- Dariana ranks #1150 among US girl names in 2025, with 201 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dariana?
- About 1 in every 7,996 US girls born in 2025 was named Dariana — 201 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dariana with classmates?
- Dariana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dariana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jaycee#1150 · Kathleen#1150 · Amyra#1150 · Adela#1150 · Sally#1150 · Kimora#1150 · Amariah#1150 · Abril#1150
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dariana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dariana and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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