Daphyne
Feminine name derived from the laurel tree in Greek mythology.
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Daphyne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Daphyne today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Daphyne births was 1961 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Daphyne. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Daphyne. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1961
10 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1976 SSA rank
#7,463
Tracked since 1953
Census
Daphyne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 153 people with the first name Daphyne, which placed it at #44,840 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
#44,840
National first-name rank
People counted
153
153 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Daphyne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daphyne is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Black (45.1%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Daphyne 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 Daphyne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.1% · 69
- Black or African American45.1% · 69
- Two or more races4.6% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Popularity
Daphyne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Daphyne from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 67 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Daphyne remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Daphyne 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 Daphyne 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 Daphyne
The name Daphyne is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the ancient Greek word "daphne," meaning "laurel" or "bay tree." This name has its roots in Greek mythology, where Daphne was a beautiful Naiad nymph who was transformed into a laurel tree to escape the advances of the god Apollo.
In the ancient world, laurel wreaths were symbols of victory, honor, and triumph. The use of the name Daphyne likely originated as a way to bestow these symbolic qualities upon the bearer. The earliest known recorded instance of the name dates back to the 5th century BC, found in ancient Greek literature and inscriptions.
One notable historical figure named Daphyne was a Greek poetess from the island of Lesbos, who lived around the 3rd century BC. Her works were highly regarded in her time, although only fragments have survived to the present day.
During the Byzantine era, a famous Saint Daphyne lived in the 5th century AD. She was a Christian martyr who was tortured and executed for her faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire.
In the 16th century, Daphyne Dufour was a French Renaissance artist and portraitist, known for her skilled depictions of the nobility and elite of her time. Her works can be found in various European museums and galleries.
Another notable figure was Daphyne du Maurier, a British playwright and novelist who lived from 1907 to 1989. She is best known for her gothic romance novel "Rebecca," which was adapted into a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock.
In more recent history, Daphyne Sheldrick was a Kenyan-born conservationist and author who dedicated her life to protecting and rehabilitating orphaned elephants and rhinos in Africa. She lived from 1934 to 2018 and her work had a significant impact on wildlife conservation efforts in Kenya.
People
Daphyne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Daphyne 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
Daphyne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Daphyne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Daphyne 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Daphyne a common name?
We classify Daphyne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 110 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Daphyne most popular?
The single biggest year for Daphyne was 1961, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Daphyne is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Daphyne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 153 people with the name Daphyne, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,840 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 Daphyne 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 Daphyne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Daphyne appears almost entirely female. Of the 150 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Daphyne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daphyne is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Black (45.1%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Daphyne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Daphyne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.1% (69 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 Daphyne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Daphyne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Daphyne 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 Daphyne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Daphyne 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 Daphyne 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 Americans are named Daphyne?
Want to know how many Americans are named Daphyne? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.