Dakotah
A name of Native American origin meaning "ally" or "friend".
Name Census estimates that about 5,300 living Americans carry the first name Dakotah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 57.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Dakotah today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dakotah births was 1994 (290 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dakotah. 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 Dakotah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Dakotah started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Dakotah sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
5.3K
~ 1 in 64,671 Americans
Peak year
1994
290 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,928
Tracked since 1979
Census
Dakotah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,988 people with the first name Dakotah, which placed it at #4,609 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
#4,609
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
3,988 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dakotah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dakotah is White at 71.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.0%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Dakotah 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 Dakotah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.9% · 2,868
- Two or more races9.0% · 357
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 309
- Black or African American7.0% · 280
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.8% · 152
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Dakotah
Dakotah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 5,401 total registrations, 3,123 (57.8%) were male and 2,278 (42.2%) were female.
Dakotah as a male name
- Ranked #4,719 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (207 births)
Dakotah as a female name
- Ranked #2,928 in 2024
- 56 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (88 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dakotah on both sides of the split. Of the 3,991 people counted with this name, 2,340 were male (58.6%) and 1,651 were female (41.4%).
Popularity
Dakotah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dakotah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,196 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dakotah 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 Dakotah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dakotahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Dakotah, while South Dakota, Nebraska, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dakotah
The name Dakotah originates from the Dakota language, spoken by the Dakota people, a Native American tribe from the Great Plains region of North America. The Dakota people referred to themselves as the "Dakota" or "Dakotah," which translates to "allies" or "friends."
The earliest recorded use of the name Dakotah dates back to the late 18th century, when the Dakota people first encountered European explorers and settlers in the region. The name gained popularity as a given name among non-Native Americans in the 19th century, as interest in Native American culture and names grew.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Dakotah was Dakotah, a Dakota chief who lived in the early 19th century and was known for his leadership and diplomacy. He played a significant role in negotiating treaties between his tribe and the United States government.
Another notable figure named Dakotah was Dakotah Wilcox (1819-1891), a Native American interpreter and guide who worked for the U.S. government and assisted in the exploration of the American West. He was highly respected for his knowledge of the land and his ability to bridge communication between Native Americans and settlers.
In the literary world, Dakotah was the name of a fictional character in James Fenimore Cooper's novel "The Prairie" (1827), which depicted life on the American frontier and the interactions between Native Americans and white settlers.
Dakotah White Plume (1843-1914) was a prominent Dakota chief and leader who advocated for the rights and protection of his people during a time of great upheaval and conflict with the U.S. government. He played a crucial role in the Ghost Dance movement and was a respected figure among his tribe.
Dakotah Holcomb (1864-1941) was a Native American author and activist who wrote about the struggles and experiences of her people. Her book, "Dakotah Life and Legends," published in 1912, provided valuable insights into Dakota culture and traditions.
While the name Dakotah has its roots in Native American culture, it has since been adopted by people of various backgrounds and nationalities, reflecting the enduring fascination with and appreciation for the rich heritage of the Dakota people and their language.
People
Dakotah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dakotah 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
Dakotah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dakotah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,300 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dakotah 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 64,671 US residents.
Is Dakotah a common name?
We classify Dakotah as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,401 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dakotah most popular?
The single biggest year for Dakotah was 1994, when 290 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dakotah is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dakotah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,988 people with the name Dakotah, or 1.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,609 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 Dakotah 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 Dakotah?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dakotah on both sides of the split. Of the 3,991 people counted with this name, 2,340 were male (58.6%) and 1,651 were female (41.4%). 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 Dakotah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dakotah is White at 71.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.0%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Dakotah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dakotah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.9% (2,868 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 Dakotah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dakotah a male name?
Yes, 57.8% of people registered as Dakotah 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 Dakotah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dakotah 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 Dakotah 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 named Dakotah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.