Dionna
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "divine" or "sacred one".
Name Census estimates that about 3,584 living Americans carry the first name Dionna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dionna today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dionna births was 1994 (163 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dionna. 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.
People living today
3.6K
~ 1 in 95,635 Americans
Peak year
1994
163 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
1989 SSA rank
#7,344
Tracked since 1951
Census
Dionna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,103 people with the first name Dionna, which placed it at #5,504 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
#5,504
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,103 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dionna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dionna is Black at 64.6%. The next largest groups are White (20.7%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Dionna 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 Dionna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.6% · 2,005
- White20.7% · 642
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 251
- Two or more races4.9% · 153
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Dionna
Out of the 3,772 babies given the name Dionna since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Dionna as a male name
- Ranked #8,219 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (5 births)
Dionna as a female name
- Ranked #7,344 in 2023
- 15 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1994 (163 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dionna appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,109 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Dionna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dionna from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,086 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dionna 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 Dionna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dionnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Ohio, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Dionna, while Connecticut, Arizona, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 81 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dionna
The name Dionna has its origins in the Greek language, tracing back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "Dionē," which was the name of a Greek goddess associated with fertility and the harvest. The name Dionē is also believed to be connected to the ancient Greek deity Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, and festivity.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Dionna can be found in ancient Greek literature and mythology. It was a relatively uncommon name in ancient Greece but held significance due to its connection to the divine figures of Dionē and Dionysus.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Dionna was Dionna of Ephesus, a Greek priestess who lived in the 3rd century BC. She served as a high priestess in the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, located in the city of Ephesus (now in modern-day Turkey).
In the 1st century AD, there is a record of a Roman woman named Dionna Paulina, who was a member of the influential Paulina family. She is mentioned in several historical texts as a prominent figure in Roman society during the reign of the Emperor Nero.
During the Byzantine era, a notable figure named Dionna Doukas lived in the 11th century. She was a member of the influential Doukas family and served as a lady-in-waiting to the Byzantine Empress Zoe Porphyrogenita.
In the realm of literature, the name Dionna appears in the works of the ancient Greek poet Callimachus, who wrote about the goddess Dionē in his "Hymns." Additionally, the Roman poet Ovid made references to the name in his celebrated work "Metamorphoses."
Another historical figure bearing the name Dionna was Dionna of Aquileia, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was revered for her unwavering faith and was eventually canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church.
While the name Dionna has ancient roots and historical significance, its usage has been relatively uncommon throughout history. However, it has endured as a unique and intriguing name choice, carrying with it the echoes of Greek mythology and the divine feminine.
People
Dionna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dionna 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
Dionna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dionna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,584 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dionna 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 95,635 US residents.
Is Dionna a common name?
We classify Dionna as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,772 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dionna most popular?
The single biggest year for Dionna was 1994, when 163 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dionna is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dionna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,103 people with the name Dionna, or 1.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,504 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 Dionna 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 Dionna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dionna appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,109 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 Dionna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dionna is Black at 64.6%. The next largest groups are White (20.7%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Dionna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dionna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.6% (2,005 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 Dionna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dionna a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Dionna 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 Dionna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dionna 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 Dionna 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 share the name Dionna?
Find out how many people have the name Dionna on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.