# Dakota (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/dakota/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “ally” |
| Pronunciation | /dəˈkəʊtə/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | Dak |
| Variant spellings | Dacota, Dacotah, Dahcotah, Dakhóta |
| US babies named this | 134,576 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 93,118 / 41,458 (31% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 2,027, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Dakota dakhóta (“ally”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1,068 | 294 |
| 2012 | 1,039 | 308 |
| 2013 | 1,089 | 293 |
| 2014 | 1,149 | 283 |
| 2015 | 1,334 | 242 |
| 2016 | 1,417 | 227 |
| 2017 | 1,362 | 231 |
| 2018 | 1,322 | 246 |
| 2019 | 1,269 | 259 |
| 2020 | 1,175 | 257 |
| 2021 | 1,163 | 270 |
| 2022 | 1,210 | 259 |
| 2023 | 1,191 | 262 |
| 2024 | 1,160 | 273 |
| 2025 | 1,035 | 296 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1,031 | 312 |
| 2012 | 961 | 328 |
| 2013 | 905 | 350 |
| 2014 | 894 | 358 |
| 2015 | 943 | 356 |
| 2016 | 874 | 376 |
| 2017 | 1,000 | 340 |
| 2018 | 944 | 349 |
| 2019 | 973 | 344 |
| 2020 | 920 | 346 |
| 2021 | 958 | 340 |
| 2022 | 945 | 347 |
| 2023 | 1,017 | 328 |
| 2024 | 1,060 | 326 |
| 2025 | 1,074 | 319 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 66 | 610 |
| 2012 | 75 | 565 |
| 2013 | 75 | 551 |
| 2014 | 71 | 582 |
| 2015 | 86 | 500 |
| 2016 | 106 | 419 |
| 2017 | 97 | 453 |
| 2018 | 105 | 415 |
| 2019 | 104 | 402 |
| 2020 | 77 | 521 |
| 2021 | 92 | 466 |
| 2022 | 74 | 526 |
| 2023 | 77 | 510 |
| 2024 | 108 | 400 |
| 2025 | 81 | 490 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 10 | 2,039 |
| 2012 | 10 | 2,117 |
| 2013 | 3 | 4,685 |
| 2014 | 8 | 2,459 |
| 2015 | 9 | 2,319 |
| 2016 | 9 | 2,335 |
| 2017 | 7 | 2,734 |
| 2018 | 8 | 2,445 |
| 2019 | 6 | 3,013 |
| 2020 | 20 | 1,273 |
| 2021 | 12 | 1,860 |
| 2022 | 13 | 1,781 |
| 2023 | 17 | 1,461 |
| 2024 | 12 | 1,951 |
| 2025 | 17 | 1,538 |

## In other languages

- Dutch: Dakota
- Finnish: dakota
- French: dakota
- German: Dakota
- Romanian: dakota

## People named Dakota

- Dakota Fanning, American actress and model  (born 1994)
- Dakota Johnson, American actress and model (born 1989)
- Dakota Blue Richards, English actress
- Dakota Goyo, Canadian actor
- Dakota Staton, American jazz vocalist (1930-2007)
- Dakota Skye, American pornographic film actress
- Dakota Mathias, American basketball player (born 1995)
- Dakota Ditcheva, British Muay Thai practitioner
- Dakota Rose, American model, fashion blogger, and television personality based in Tokyo, Japan
- Dakota Luther, American swimmer
- Dak Prescott, American football player (born 1993)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.