Dario
A masculine name of Italian origin meaning "wealthy one".
Name Census estimates that about 10,594 living Americans carry the first name Dario. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dario today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dario births was 2024 (439 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dario. 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 Dario with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,354 Americans
Peak year
2024
439 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#635
Tracked since 1909
Census
Dario in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,675 people with the first name Dario, which placed it at #1,922 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
#1,922
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,675 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
75.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dario
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dario is Hispanic at 75.0%. The next largest groups are White (17.2%) and Black (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 Dario 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 Dario at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino75.0% · 11,002
- White17.2% · 2,522
- Black or African American4.6% · 675
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 281
- Two or more races1.0% · 154
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 41
Popularity
Dario: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dario from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,289 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dario 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 Dario during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darios live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Dario, while South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 309 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dario
The name Dario is derived from the Persian name Dara, meaning "wealthy" or "prosperous." It has its origins in ancient Persia, modern-day Iran, and dates back to the 6th century BCE. The name gained popularity across the Middle East and Europe during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dario can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who mentions a Persian king named Darius the Great (550-486 BCE). This powerful ruler was responsible for expanding the Persian Empire and solidifying its position as a major world power.
In the Middle Ages, the name Dario was occasionally used in Italy, particularly in regions with cultural and trade ties to the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It was sometimes adapted as Darius or Dario in various European languages.
One notable figure from this period was Dario Trevisan (c. 1460-1536), an Italian painter and architect from the Renaissance era. He was known for his contributions to the development of the Venetian Renaissance style.
During the 19th century, the name Dario gained renewed popularity in Italy and other parts of Europe. One of the most famous individuals with this name was the Italian poet and novelist Dario Fo (1926-2016), who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997 for his work in the field of satirical drama.
Another notable bearer of the name was Dario Argento (born 1940), an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror and giallo genres, and is considered a master of the Italian horror film.
In the world of sports, Dario Franchitti (born 1973) is a Scottish former racing driver who won the Indianapolis 500 three times and the IndyCar Series championship four times.
While the name Dario has its roots in ancient Persia, it has been adopted and adapted across various cultures over the centuries, with notable figures in fields ranging from art and literature to film and sports.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dario
People
Dario + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dario 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
Dario: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dario?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,594 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dario 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 32,354 US residents.
Is Dario a common name?
We classify Dario as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,606 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dario most popular?
The single biggest year for Dario was 2024, when 439 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dario is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dario in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,675 people with the name Dario, or 4.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,922 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 Dario 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 Dario?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dario appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,672 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Dario?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dario is Hispanic at 75.0%. The next largest groups are White (17.2%) and Black (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 Dario most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Dario in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.0% (11,002 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 Dario in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dario a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dario 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 Dario still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dario 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 Dario 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 Dario?
You can see how many people have the name Dario on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.