Dena
Greek name meaning "valley" or "little stranger".
Name Census estimates that about 24,735 living Americans carry the first name Dena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dena today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dena births was 1970 (1,541 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dena. 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 Dena with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Dena is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 56 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,857 Americans
Peak year
1970
1,541 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1989 SSA rank
#4,787
Tracked since 1880
Census
Dena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 25,913 people with the first name Dena, which placed it at #1,373 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
#1,373
National first-name rank
People counted
26K
25,913 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dena is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Dena 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 Dena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.7% · 21,687
- Black or African American6.4% · 1,668
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 1,103
- Two or more races3.3% · 843
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 336
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 276
Gender
Gender distribution for Dena
Out of the 32,500 babies given the name Dena since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Dena as a male name
- Ranked #6,384 in 1989
- 7 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1971 (10 births)
Dena as a female name
- Ranked #4,787 in 2024
- 28 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (1,541 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dena appears almost entirely female. Of the 25,907 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Dena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dena from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 9,184 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dena 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 Dena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Denas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Dena, while North Dakota, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 542 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dena
The name Dena has its origins in the Persian language, with roots dating back to ancient Persia (present-day Iran). It is derived from the Persian word "dana," which means "wise" or "learned." The name was initially associated with scholars, intellectuals, and those who possessed exceptional knowledge and wisdom.
In the Middle Ages, the name Dena gained popularity among Persian poets and literary figures. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the works of the renowned Persian poet Hafez (1315-1390), who dedicated several poems to a woman named Dena, celebrating her beauty and intellect.
During the Islamic Golden Age, a notable figure bearing the name Dena was Dena al-Isfahani (c. 961-1041), a renowned Persian scholar and philosopher. She was highly respected for her contributions to the fields of logic, mathematics, and astronomy, and her works were widely studied throughout the Islamic world.
In the 12th century, the name Dena appeared in the epic Persian poem "Shahnameh" (Book of Kings) by Ferdowsi. The character Dena was depicted as a wise and courageous warrior, reflecting the name's association with strength and wisdom.
Throughout history, several other notable individuals have borne the name Dena, including:
1. Dena Attar (1328-1384), a Persian mystic and poet who wrote extensively on Sufism and spiritual enlightenment.
2. Dena Khayri (1503-1559), a Persian calligrapher and artist renowned for her intricate and beautiful calligraphic works.
3. Dena Banu Begum (1615-1671), a Mughal princess and patron of the arts, known for her influential role in promoting Persian culture and literature.
4. Dena Kapur (1871-1936), an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer who advocated for women's rights and education.
5. Dena Sadar (1908-1986), an Iranian painter and sculptor celebrated for her avant-garde style and contributions to modern Persian art.
The name Dena continues to be used across various cultures and regions, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia, where it is often chosen for its rich historical and cultural significance, representing wisdom, knowledge, and intellectual pursuits.
People
Dena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dena 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
Dena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,735 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dena 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 13,857 US residents.
Is Dena a common name?
We classify Dena as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32,500 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dena most popular?
The single biggest year for Dena was 1970, when 1,541 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dena is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 25,913 people with the name Dena, or 8.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,373 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 Dena 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 Dena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dena appears almost entirely female. Of the 25,907 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Dena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dena is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Dena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.7% (21,687 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 Dena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dena a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Dena 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 Dena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dena 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 Dena 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 have Dena as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.