Recorded 1915–2025 · United States
Dakota was most popular in 1995, when 7,700 American babies were given the name — ranking #87 that year. In 2025 it ranked #318, with 2,109 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 134,576 people named Dakota.
Dakota first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1915, which makes it about 110 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 68 of the 111 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 134,576 American births named Dakota between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 132,013 are estimated to be alive today.
2,109 American babies were named Dakota in 2025, ranking #318 that year.
Dakota is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 2,163 births a year, against 2,083 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +4% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Dakota is a unisex name — 30.8% of the 134,576 Americans given it were girls and 69.2% were boys. It changed hands: since 2025 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 56% girls and 44% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 132,013 Americans named Dakota are alive today — 98% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 25 years old, and half are between 16 and 30.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Sioux · "friend, ally"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Dakota on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org