Danae
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "Arising from moisture".
Name Census estimates that about 7,063 living Americans carry the first name Danae. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Danae today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danae births was 2001 (212 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danae. 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 Danae with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.1K
~ 1 in 48,528 Americans
Peak year
2001
212 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
1990 SSA rank
#1,362
Tracked since 1947
Census
Danae in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,338 people with the first name Danae, which placed it at #3,348 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
#3,348
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,338 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danae
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danae is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.2%) and Black (22.4%). 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 Danae 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 Danae at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.9% · 2,973
- Hispanic or Latino23.2% · 1,468
- Black or African American22.4% · 1,419
- Two or more races5.6% · 355
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 71
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 52
Gender
Gender distribution for Danae
Out of the 7,371 babies given the name Danae since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Danae as a male name
- Ranked #7,365 in 1990
- 6 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1990 (6 births)
Danae as a female name
- Ranked #1,362 in 2024
- 167 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (212 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danae appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,353 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Danae: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danae from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,815 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Danae remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Danae 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 Danae during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danaes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Danae, while West Virginia, South Dakota, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 122 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danae
The name Danae has its origins in ancient Greek mythology. It derives from the Greek words 'danao' meaning 'to burn' or 'dane' meaning 'moisture.' The name belonged to a princess from Argos who was locked in a bronze tower by her father, King Acrisius. According to the myth, Danae conceived Perseus after being visited by Zeus in the form of golden rain that streamed through the roof.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Danae can be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, a Roman mythological text written in the 1st century AD. The story of Danae and her son Perseus is also mentioned in other ancient texts such as the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Hyginus.
In the late 16th century, the name Danae appeared in the famous painting by Titian, titled 'Danae with Nursemaid.' The painting depicts the mythological scene of Danae receiving the golden rain, representing Zeus. This work is considered one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Danae. Danae Dozier (1917-2003) was an American actress best known for her roles in films such as 'The Killers' and 'The Long Night.' Danae Brook (born 1962) is a Canadian actress and playwright, known for her work in theatre and television shows like 'The L Word.'
Another prominent Danae was Danae Valouchi (1904-1985), a Greek actress and singer who gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. She appeared in numerous Greek films and theatrical productions, becoming a renowned figure in Greek cinema.
Danae Keys (born 1975) is a contemporary American actress and model, best known for her roles in television series like 'The Parkers' and 'Girlfriends.' Danae Greenidge (born 1991) is a Canadian Olympic hurdler who competed in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
People
Danae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danae 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
Danae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,063 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danae 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 48,528 US residents.
Is Danae a common name?
We classify Danae as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,371 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danae most popular?
The single biggest year for Danae was 2001, when 212 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danae is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danae in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,338 people with the name Danae, or 2.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,348 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 Danae 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 Danae?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danae appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,353 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Danae?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danae is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.2%) and Black (22.4%). 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 Danae most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Danae in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.9% (2,973 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 Danae in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danae a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Danae in the SSA data are female. 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 Danae still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danae 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 Danae 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 common is the name Danae?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Danae at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.