Dariana
A feminine name of Russian origin meaning "gift of the ocean".
Name Census estimates that about 4,086 living Americans carry the first name Dariana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dariana today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dariana births was 2000 (267 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dariana. 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 Dariana with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Dariana is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 83,885 Americans
Peak year
2000
267 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,129
Tracked since 1984
Census
Dariana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,215 people with the first name Dariana, which placed it at #5,365 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
#5,365
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,215 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dariana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dariana is Hispanic at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and White (3.7%). 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 Dariana 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 Dariana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino84.5% · 2,718
- Black or African American10.4% · 333
- White3.7% · 118
- Two or more races1.0% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 6
Popularity
Dariana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dariana from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,531 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dariana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dariana 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 Dariana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darianas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Dariana, while Pennsylvania, Nevada, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 140 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dariana
The name Dariana is a feminine given name of Persian origin, derived from the Old Persian word "dārayā," which means "to possess" or "to hold." It is closely related to the more well-known name Darius, which has been borne by several Persian kings and rulers throughout history.
The earliest recorded use of the name Dariana can be traced back to ancient Persia, where it was bestowed upon noblewomen and princesses of the Achaemenid dynasty, which ruled the Persian Empire from around 550 BC to 330 BC. The name was often associated with strength, power, and nobility.
During the Sassanid era, which spanned from the 3rd to the 7th century AD, the name Dariana continued to be used among the Persian aristocracy. It can be found inscribed on ancient stone tablets and mentioned in historical texts from that period.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Dariana was a Persian princess who lived in the 4th century BC. She was the daughter of King Darius III and was known for her beauty and intelligence.
In the 10th century AD, a famous Persian poet and scholar named Dariana al-Khatun was renowned for her literary works and contributions to the advancement of Persian poetry and literature.
Another notable bearer of the name was Dariana Qurrat al-Ayn, a 19th-century Persian poet, and religious reformer who played a significant role in the Baha'i Faith's early history.
In the 20th century, Dariana Guzman was a Chilean actress and singer who gained popularity in Latin American cinema and television during the 1960s and 1970s.
Dariana Rakviashvili was a Soviet and Georgian chess player who won multiple championships and was awarded the prestigious title of International Master by the World Chess Federation in 1976.
While the name Dariana has its roots in ancient Persia, it has since gained popularity across different cultures and regions, particularly in Latin America and parts of Europe. However, its historical significance and association with strength, nobility, and cultural heritage remain deeply ingrained in its origins.
People
Dariana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dariana 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
Dariana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dariana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,086 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dariana 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 83,885 US residents.
Is Dariana a common name?
We classify Dariana as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dariana most popular?
The single biggest year for Dariana was 2000, when 267 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dariana is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dariana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,215 people with the name Dariana, or 1.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,365 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 Dariana 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 Dariana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dariana appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,211 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Dariana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dariana is Hispanic at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and White (3.7%). 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 Dariana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Dariana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (2,718 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 Dariana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dariana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dariana 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 Dariana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dariana 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 Dariana 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 Dariana?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.