Dionne
A feminine name derived from the Greek name "Dione", meaning "daughter of Zeus".
Name Census estimates that about 9,142 living Americans carry the first name Dionne. It is a predominantly female name (95.7% of registrations). The average person named Dionne today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dionne births was 1970 (850 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dionne. 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 Dionne with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Dionne is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 440 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
9.1K
~ 1 in 37,492 Americans
Peak year
1970
850 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,310
Tracked since 1931
Census
Dionne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,524 people with the first name Dionne, which placed it at #2,544 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
#2,544
National first-name rank
People counted
9.5K
9,524 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dionne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dionne is Black at 68.7%. The next largest groups are White (19.2%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Dionne 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 Dionne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.7% · 6,546
- White19.2% · 1,831
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 510
- Two or more races4.4% · 422
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 141
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 74
Gender
Gender distribution for Dionne
Dionne leans heavily female at 95.7% of total registrations, but 440 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dionne as a male name
- Ranked #12,692 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1971 (23 births)
Dionne as a female name
- Ranked #7,310 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (835 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dionne leans strongly female. 9,162 people counted with this name were female (96.2%), compared with 361 male bearers (3.8%).
Popularity
Dionne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dionne from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 4,298 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dionne 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 Dionne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dionnes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. California, Louisiana, New York recorded the most babies named Dionne, while West Virginia, Oregon, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 194 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dionne
The name Dionne has its origins in the Greek language, deriving from the name Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation, and fertility in ancient Greek mythology. The name Dionne is a feminine form of the name, believed to have been popularized during the medieval period in France.
In Greek mythology, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele. He was an important deity in the Greek pantheon, associated with wine, revelry, and the cultivation of grapes. The cult of Dionysus was widespread across the ancient Greek world, and his festivals, known as the Dionysia, involved wild celebrations and the consumption of wine.
The earliest recorded use of the name Dionne can be traced back to the 12th century in France, where it was likely used as a diminutive form of the name Denise, which itself derived from the name Dionysus. The name Dionne gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Dionne was Dionne de Campagne, a French nun and mystic who lived in the 13th century. She is known for her spiritual writings and her role in the establishment of the Dominican Order in France.
In the 16th century, Dionne de Musy was a renowned French courtesan and mistress to King Henry II of France. She was known for her beauty and her influence at the French court during the Renaissance period.
Another famous figure with the name Dionne was Dionne Quintuplets, a set of identical quintuplet sisters born in 1934 in Ontario, Canada. The Dionne Quintuplets were the first quintuplets known to have survived infancy, and their birth attracted widespread attention and media coverage.
In the world of literature, Dionne Brand is a renowned Canadian poet, novelist, and essayist. Born in 1953 in Trinidad and Tobago, she has written extensively on themes of race, gender, and identity, and has received numerous literary awards for her work.
Dionne Warwick, born in 1940, is an American singer and actress who has had a successful career spanning over six decades. She is known for her distinctive vocal style and for hits such as "Walk On By," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "That's What Friends Are For."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dionne
People
Dionne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dionne 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
Dionne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dionne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,142 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dionne 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 37,492 US residents.
Is Dionne a common name?
We classify Dionne as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,285 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dionne most popular?
The single biggest year for Dionne was 1970, when 850 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dionne is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dionne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,524 people with the name Dionne, or 3.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,544 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 Dionne 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 Dionne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dionne leans strongly female. 9,162 people counted with this name were female (96.2%), compared with 361 male bearers (3.8%). 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 Dionne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dionne is Black at 68.7%. The next largest groups are White (19.2%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Dionne most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dionne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.7% (6,546 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 Dionne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dionne a female name?
Yes, 95.7% of people registered as Dionne 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 Dionne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dionne 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 Dionne 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 the name Dionne?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Dionne on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.