Dontavius
Masculine
Octavius means eighth. Romans numbered their sons, and they meant it: Quintus was the fifth, Sextus the sixth, Septimus the seventh, Octavius the eighth, Decimus the tenth. In large families where several children died young, a numeral was a practical name, and Rome used them for centuries without embarrassment.
How old is the name Dontavius?
Dontavius first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Dontavius alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,000 people named Dontavius are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dontavius most popular?
Dontavius peaked in 1993, reaching #1620 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,623 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Where it comes from
From Octavius to Dontavius
Our story of Dontavius
Our reading is that the Octavius family of American coinages is worth knowing about because the source is so concrete. Roman numeral praenomina were real and ordinary: a father genuinely counted. Octavius, the family name of the man who became Augustus, descends from an ancestor who was an eighth child, and the practice is documented across Roman society. What American coinage took from it is the last three syllables, which sound impressive and carry none of the arithmetic. That is the normal fate of a borrowed fragment. The -tavious, -tavius and -tavian endings appear across Montavious, Dontavius, Kentavious and Detavious, all built the same way: a prefix from the American stock, a fragment from a Latin name, and no relationship between them. The Latin looks like provenance and functions as decoration.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Dontavius is an American formation joining the Don- prefix to a fragment cut from Octavius, the Roman family name from octavus, eighth. The numeral does not survive the cutting: -tavius is a sound, not a morpheme, and the name does not mean anything about eighth or about anything else. It peaks in 1993.
How the name formed
- Octavius
- Dontavius
Pronouncing Dontavius
don-TAY-vee-us
Four syllables, stress on the second. The -ius is two syllables here, as in Octavius. Dontavius, Dontavious and Dontavion are near-homophones and only the spelling separates them.
Nicknames for Dontavius
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
- 1980
- Most boys named
- 199759 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1620reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −35.7%9 in 2025, from 14
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.
Dontavius in other languages
Dontaviuss among us
people named Dontavius are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Dontavius
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 Rudell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dontavius's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rudell climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rudell's path sketches the road Dontavius is walking now.
Dontavius 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
Dontavius beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dontavius in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Don is an immediately usable short form.
- The Latin ending gives the name a formal register.
- The stress pattern is consistent across the whole family.
- Four syllables and nine letters is long to spell out.
- Dontavious and Dontavius both circulate.
- The Latin fragment carries none of the original meaning.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Dontavius to the vote.
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What they receive
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Dontavius
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dontaviuss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Dontavius are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dontavius in 2025?
- Dontavius ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dontavius?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Dontavius — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dontavius with classmates?
- Dontavius will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dontavius
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dontavius? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dontavius and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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