Diane
Feminine · “divine”
Diane is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 518,651 girls against 1,383 boys since 1880. See Diane as a boy name
Diane is the French form of a Roman goddess's name, and the most famous temple to her was destroyed by a man who wanted to be remembered. He said so at the time. The authorities executed him and made it a capital offense to record his name, which failed completely: it is in every account of the fire and everybody knows it.
How old is the name Diane?
Diane first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Diane alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 406,000 people named Diane are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Diane most popular?
Diane peaked in 1955, reaching #14 nationally. Today it ranks #2607, 2,593 places below that high. See the whole 1955 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Roman goddess of the wild and the moon to Diane
The story of Diane
The temple at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders, rebuilt several times and enormous, and in the fourth century before Christ a man burned it down. His stated motive was fame: he wanted his name to be remembered, and he said so under questioning. The Ephesians executed him and passed a law forbidding anybody to speak or write his name, on the reasoning that this would defeat the purpose. A historian recorded it anyway, in a passage explaining that he was doing so in order that the ban be understood, and every subsequent account has repeated it. The episode has given psychology a term and philosophy a small permanent problem about how to refuse somebody attention.
Meaningscholars disagree
divine, heavenly
The Latin name is connected to a root about daylight and the sky, the same one behind the word for a day and behind the chief Roman god's name, and the reading is the standard one. It is not certain: the goddess is old, probably older than Latin, and may have been an Italic deity whose name was reinterpreted once Latin got hold of it.
How the name formed
- A Roman goddess of the wild and the moon
- A temple at Ephesus among the seven wonders
- Diane as the French form of the name
- Very widely used in mid-century America
Related forms: Diane · Diana · Diana
Pronouncing Diane
dye-ANN
Two syllables with the stress at the back in English. French says it with the stress at the back too but with a nasal final vowel, and the Latin and Italian forms add a syllable and move the weight to the middle.
Nicknames for Diane
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 195523,290 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #14reached in 1955
- Change vs 2022
- −21.4%66 in 2025, from 84
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.
Diane in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Diane in French — same name
- Diana in Italian — related form
- Diana in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE. Sources
Dianes among us
people named Diane are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 24,353 born in 2025 was named Diane
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Diane
- #2607
- Diane on the 2025 chart
- #873
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Diane went to 66 girls in 2025, but Dianne is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 87, which makes it the 873rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,734 places above the chart.
- Diane66
- Dianne21
About 1 girl in 18,474 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 24,353 for Diane 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 Rose test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Diane's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rose climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rose's path sketches the road Diane is walking now.
Diane 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 Diane is headed
Diane 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.
Diane beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Diane in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is completely familiar, universally spellable and needs no explaining.
- It carries a genuine ancient goddess with a great deal of story attached.
- Di and Dee are both immediate, though the first has an obvious drawback.
- It is strongly associated with one American generation.
- The commonest short form is identical in sound to an English verb.
- The spelling is on the register for boys as well, in very small numbers.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Diane
Feminine · #2607 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dianes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 406,000 people named Diane are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Diane?
- Diane is the most-used spelling in US records — 66 of the 87 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Dianne.
- How popular is the name Diane in 2025?
- Diane ranks #2607 among US girl names in 2025, with 66 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Diane?
- About 1 in every 24,353 US girls born in 2025 was named Diane — 66 in all.
- Will my child share the name Diane with classmates?
- Diane will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Diane
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Navie#2607 · Delylah#2607 · Adella#2607 · Henny#2607 · Maddox#2607 · Ellyana#2607 · Atalia#2607 · Annalia#2607
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Diane? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Diane and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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