Daine
A nature-inspired name of Celtic origin meaning "crown of brightness".
Name Census estimates that about 537 living Americans carry the first name Daine. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Daine today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Daine births was 1990 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Daine. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Daine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Daine was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
537
~ 1 in 638,276 Americans
Peak year
1990
24 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2019 SSA rank
#12,554
Tracked since 1943
Census
Daine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 888 people with the first name Daine, which placed it at #13,554 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#13,554
National first-name rank
People counted
888
888 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Daine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daine is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Black (23.3%) and Hispanic (9.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Daine described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Daine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.0% · 533
- Black or African American23.3% · 207
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 88
- Two or more races2.8% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Daine
Daine is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 601 total registrations, 303 (50.4%) were male and 298 (49.6%) were female.
Daine as a male name
- Ranked #12,554 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1990 (19 births)
Daine as a female name
- Ranked #13,440 in 1990
- 5 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1964 (17 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Daine on both sides of the split. Of the 889 people counted with this name, 347 were male (39.0%) and 542 were female (61.0%).
Popularity
Daine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Daine from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 121 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Daine remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Daine by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Daine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Daine
The name Daine is of Celtic origin, derived from the Gaelic word "dian," which means "ardent" or "vehement." It is believed to have been used as a personal name in Ireland and Scotland as early as the 5th century AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Daine can be found in the ancient Irish text known as the Annals of Ulster, which mentions a Daine mac Conaill who lived in the 7th century AD. This text provides valuable insights into the early use of the name in Ireland.
In the 9th century, the name Daine appeared in the Book of Leinster, an important medieval Irish manuscript containing various historical and literary texts. This suggests that the name was well-established and in use among the Irish population at that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Daine. One such figure was Daine O'Malley (c. 1210-1268), an Irish chieftain and military leader who fought against the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 13th century.
Another prominent figure with the name Daine was Daine MacGregor (1555-1624), a Scottish clan chief and military commander who played a significant role in the Scottish clan wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.
In the realm of literature, Daine is the name of a character in Tamora Pierce's fantasy novel series "The Immortals." Daine, the protagonist, is a young woman with a unique ability to communicate with animals, and her adventures are central to the story.
The name Daine has also been used in various artistic and creative works, such as films, plays, and music, further contributing to its cultural significance and recognition.
It is worth noting that the name Daine, while not as common as some other Celtic names, has endured through the centuries, carrying with it a rich history and cultural heritage rooted in the ancient Celtic traditions of Ireland and Scotland.
People
Daine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Daine as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Daine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Daine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 537 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Daine going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 638,276 US residents.
Is Daine a common name?
We classify Daine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 601 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Daine most popular?
The single biggest year for Daine was 1990, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Daine is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Daine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 888 people with the name Daine, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,554 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Daine in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Daine?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Daine on both sides of the split. Of the 889 people counted with this name, 347 were male (39.0%) and 542 were female (61.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Daine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daine is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Black (23.3%) and Hispanic (9.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Daine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Daine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.0% (533 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Daine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Daine a male name?
Yes, 50.4% of people registered as Daine in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Daine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Daine in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Daine can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Daine?
You can see how many people share the name Daine on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.