US Name Trends

Dana

An English surname and place name, later read as “from Denmark.”

1971peak year
No. 44best rank (1971)
246,842babies since 1880
outside top 1000 in 2025

Popularity, 1880–2025

Babies named Dana per year — peak 6,934▬ girls ▬ boys18801900192019401960198020002020

Dana appears in the national records from the very first year, 1880. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American girls in every year from 1963 to 1988. Its biggest year was 1971, when 6,934 newborn girls received the name, ranking it No. 44 nationally. The name has also seen real use for boys: 53,287 of the 246,842 Americans given the name since 1880.

Related names

Other spellings on record: Danna (25,240), Dayana (15,603), Dayna (14,547), Dawna (6,017), Dayanna (3,916), Daina (2,527) (total births since 1880)

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By the decade

DecadeBirthsBest rank
1880s45No. 686
1890s100No. 835
1900s113No. 833
1910s367No. 879
1920s768No. 752
1930s1,232No. 498
1940s5,429No. 260
1950s17,106No. 143
1960s47,701No. 60
1970s51,358No. 44
1980s36,826No. 67
1990s19,284No. 114
2000s7,942No. 311
2010s3,828No. 463
2020s1,456No. 976

Births and rank shown for girls, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.

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Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.