Dayanara
Feminine · “destroyer of men”
Dayanara is a modern Spanish reshaping of Deianira — the wife of Heracles in Greek myth, whose name means destroyer of men, and who fulfilled it by accident.
How old is the name Dayanara?
Dayanara first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Dayanara alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 6,500 people named Dayanara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dayanara most popular?
Dayanara peaked in 2005, reaching #345 nationally. Today it ranks #4067, 3,722 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Deianeira to Dayanara
The story of Dayanara
Deianira, tricked into giving Heracles a poisoned robe she believed was a love charm, causes his death and then her own — the plot of Sophocles' Women of Trachis. The modern Spanish form became widely known when a Puerto Rican Dayanara won Miss Universe in 1993, and the name appears in American records from that year, peaking in the mid-1990s.
Meaningscholars disagree
destroyer of men
Through Deianira, from the Greek daio, 'to destroy' or 'to burn', and aner, 'man'. The modern Spanish spelling is a reshaping rather than a direct descent, and some sources treat Dayanara as an independent coinage. The Greek reading is undisputed for the original.
How the name formed
- Deianeira
- Deianira
- Dayanara
Related forms: Dayanara · Δηϊάνειρα · Deianira
Pronouncing Dayanara
dah-yah-NAR-ah
Four syllables, stress on the third. Spanish says it the same way.
Nicknames for Dayanara
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 2005909 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #345reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −23.9%35 in 2025, from 46
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.
Dayanara in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dayanara in Spanish — same name
- Δηϊάνειρα in Greek — transliteration
- Deianira in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Arizona.
Dayanaras among us
people named Dayanara are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was named Dayanara
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 Gayla test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dayanara's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gayla climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gayla's path sketches the road Dayanara is walking now.
Dayanara 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 Dayanara is headed
Dayanara 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.
Dayanara beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dayanara in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuinely substantial figure of Greek tragedy stands behind it.
- Daya and Nara are two short forms, both real names elsewhere.
- Four syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- The Greek meaning is unflattering and the story attached to it is a tragedy.
- The relationship between the Spanish and Greek forms is not fully settled.
- It is closely dated to the 1990s in American records.
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What they receive
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Dayanara
Feminine · #4067 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dayanaras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,500 people named Dayanara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dayanara in 2025?
- Dayanara ranks #4067 among US girl names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dayanara?
- About 1 in every 45,922 US girls born in 2025 was named Dayanara — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dayanara with classmates?
- Dayanara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dayanara
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 Dayanara? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dayanara and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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