Dekota
Masculine · “Dakota "friend”
Dekota is given to both — 845 boys and 349 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Dekota respells the name of a nation. Dakota is what the Dakota people call themselves and it means something close to friend or ally — a word about relationship, which the neighboring Lakota and Nakota use in their own dialects. Changing the first vowel moves it away from the word.
How old is the name Dekota?
Dekota first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Dekota alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 800 people named Dekota are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dekota most popular?
Dekota peaked in 1995, reaching #1736 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 5,458 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dakhóta to Dekota
The story of Dekota
Dakota entered American given-name use in the 1980s and rose sharply for both sexes in the 1990s. Respellings followed as they always do — Dakotah, Dekota, Dacota — and Dekota peaked in 1995 at the height of the parent name's run. The respelling raises a question the plain form does not: Dakota is a living word in a living language, and altering its spelling for decorative reasons treats it as a sound rather than as a word. That is worth stating plainly rather than leaving implicit.
Meaning
Dakota "friend, ally"
Dakhóta is the self-designation of the eastern Sioux; Lakȟóta and Nakhóta are the same word in the other two dialect groups. The sense is generally given as friend or ally. The etymology is settled and the word is in current use by the people it names. The e spelling has no separate origin.
How the name formed
- Dakhóta
- Dakota
- Dekota
Related forms: Dakȟóta · Lakȟóta
Pronouncing Dekota
duh-KOH-tuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The first vowel is reduced to almost nothing in English, which is exactly why the a and e spellings sound identical. The Dakota pronunciation stresses the second syllable too.
Nicknames for Dekota
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
- 1986
- Most boys named
- 199551 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1736reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
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.
Dekota in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dakȟóta in Dakota — same name
- Lakȟóta in Lakota — related form
Dekotas among us
people named Dekota are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Dekota
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 Demetrus test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dekota's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Demetrus climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Demetrus's path sketches the road Dekota is walking now.
Dekota 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
Dekota beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dekota in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and genuinely warm — friend, ally.
- Kota works as a self-contained short form.
- The rhythm is completely familiar to American ears.
- Respelling the name of a living people treats their word as decoration.
- Dakota is far more common and will be written instead.
- It is used for both sexes, which forms will not expect.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Dekota
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dekotas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Dekota are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dekota in 2025?
- Dekota ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dekota?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Dekota — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dekota with classmates?
- Dekota will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dekota
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dekota? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dekota and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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