Danah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "branch of a tree".
Name Census estimates that about 992 living Americans carry the first name Danah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Danah today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danah births was 2012 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danah. 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 Danah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
992
~ 1 in 345,518 Americans
Peak year
2012
32 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,302
Tracked since 1956
Census
Danah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 915 people with the first name Danah, which placed it at #13,263 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
#13,263
National first-name rank
People counted
915
915 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danah is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Black (17.3%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Danah 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 Danah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.9% · 539
- Black or African American17.3% · 158
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 100
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.2% · 75
- Two or more races4.3% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 4
Popularity
Danah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danah from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 226 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Danah 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 Danah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Danah, while Texas, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danah
The name Danah is believed to have originated from the Arabic language, with its roots dating back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic word "dana," which means "low" or "humble." The name is often associated with humility, modesty, and grace.
In the Islamic tradition, the name Danah is sometimes interpreted as a reference to the humility and submissiveness one should have before God. It is considered a virtuous name, embodying the qualities of modesty and humility that are highly valued in Islamic teachings.
The earliest recorded use of the name Danah can be traced back to the medieval era in the Middle East. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Danah al-Ghazali, a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher who lived in the 11th century. She was highly respected for her contributions to the fields of philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Danah. One such person was Danah Zohar, an American philosopher, and author born in 1945. She is best known for her work on the concept of "Spiritual Intelligence" and her contributions to the field of quantum physics and consciousness studies.
Another prominent figure was Danah Boyd, an American researcher, and scholar born in 1977. She is widely recognized for her work on online social media, privacy, and youth culture. Her research has significantly influenced our understanding of how technology shapes society and human behavior.
In the artistic realm, Danah Khalil is a notable contemporary Egyptian singer and actress. Born in 1990, she has gained widespread popularity for her musical talents and has also appeared in several television series and films.
Danah Al-Bayaty is an Iraqi-American writer and activist, born in 1981. She is known for her literary works that explore themes of identity, displacement, and the experiences of women in the Middle East.
While the name Danah has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and communities around the world, transcending cultural and linguistic boundaries.
People
Danah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danah 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
Danah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 992 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danah 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 345,518 US residents.
Is Danah a common name?
We classify Danah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,039 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danah most popular?
The single biggest year for Danah was 2012, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danah is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 915 people with the name Danah, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,263 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 Danah 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 Danah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danah leans strongly female. 902 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 14 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Danah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danah is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Black (17.3%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Danah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Danah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.9% (539 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 Danah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Danah 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 Danah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danah 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 Danah 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 Danah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.