Dominica
Feminine · “of the Lord”
Dominica was a name for a child born on Sunday. The Latin for the Lord's day is dies dominica, and medieval families used it exactly the way other cultures used names for days — a child arriving on that day got the day's name. The Caribbean island got its name the same way, from a navigator who sighted it on a Sunday and did not look for anything more original.
How old is the name Dominica?
Dominica first appears in US birth records in 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Dominica alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 1,800 people named Dominica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dominica most popular?
Dominica peaked in 1916, reaching #1246 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,962 places below that high. See the whole 1916 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From dominus to Dominica
The story of Dominica
Dominic and Dominica were given to Sunday children across medieval Catholic Europe, and the practice was widespread enough that the founder of the Dominican order — born on a Sunday — carried it himself. Columbus sighted an island in the eastern Caribbean on a Sunday in 1493 and named it Dominica for the same reason, which is why a nation and a name share a word without either descending from the other. American records carry the name from Italian and Spanish-speaking Catholic families, and it has always been uncommon here.
Meaning
of the Lord; belonging to Sunday
From the Latin dominus, a lord or master, in the feminine adjective form. Dies dominica is the Lord's day, which is why Sunday is domingo in Spanish and dimanche in French. The name means belonging to the Lord and, in practice, born on Sunday.
How the name formed
- dominus
- dies dominica
- Dominica
Related forms: Domenica · Dominga · Dominika · Dominique · Dominica
Pronouncing Dominica
duh-MIN-ih-kuh
Four syllables, stress on the second. Italian says do-MEH-nee-kah with a fuller second vowel, and Spanish uses Dominga instead. The island is said dom-ih-NEE-kuh, with the weight further back, which is a real and confusing difference.
Nicknames for Dominica
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
- 1909
- Most girls named
- 198955 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1246reached in 1916
- Change vs 2023
- −33.3%6 in 2025, from 9
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.
Dominica in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Domenica in Italian — same name
- Dominga in Spanish — same name
- Dominika in Polish — same name
- Dominique in French — same name
- Dominica in Latin — same name
Dominicas among us
people named Dominica are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Dominica
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 Ardena test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dominica's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ardena climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ardena's path sketches the road Dominica is walking now.
Dominica 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
Dominica beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dominica in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is documented, specific and comes with a genuinely charming custom behind it.
- Three completely different short forms are available.
- It is standard in several European languages rather than an American variation.
- Four open syllables that survive any accent intact.
- It shares a spelling with a Caribbean nation, which is said with a different stress.
- Dominique is the commoner form in American use and will be written instead.
- Four syllables is a lot for a small child, though the short forms arrive quickly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Dominica
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dominicas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Dominica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dominica in 2025?
- Dominica ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dominica?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Dominica — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dominica with classmates?
- Dominica will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dominica
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dominica? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dominica and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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