Daeja
A feminine name of Korean origin meaning "grace and elegance".
Name Census estimates that about 730 living Americans carry the first name Daeja. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Daeja today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Daeja births was 2001 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Daeja. 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
730
~ 1 in 469,526 Americans
Peak year
2001
66 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2020 SSA rank
#15,656
Tracked since 1991
Popularity
Daeja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Daeja from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 369 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Daeja 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 Daeja during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Daejas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Daeja, while Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Daeja
The given name Daeja is believed to have originated from the Yoruba language spoken in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria and the surrounding regions. Yoruba is one of the most widely spoken languages in the Niger-Congo language family. The name Daeja is thought to be a variation or derivative of the Yoruba name Deja, which means "to awaken" or "to rise."
In the ancient Yoruba culture, names were often chosen based on the circumstances surrounding a child's birth or the hopes and aspirations of the parents for their child. The name Deja, and by extension Daeja, may have been given to a child born at dawn or to symbolize the parents' desire for their child to rise to greatness or achieve success in life.
While the exact origins of the name Daeja are not entirely clear, it is believed to have been in use among the Yoruba people for centuries. However, there are no known records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures from the region.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Daeja can be found in the historical records of the Oyo Empire, a powerful Yoruba kingdom that existed in present-day southwestern Nigeria from the 16th to the 19th century. Daeja Akinsanya (1745-1812) was a renowned warrior and military strategist who served under several Oyo rulers.
Another notable figure with the name Daeja was Daeja Olowu (1825-1896), a prominent trader and merchant in the city of Lagos during the late 19th century. Olowu played a significant role in the economic and cultural exchange between the Yoruba people and European traders during the colonial era.
In the 20th century, Daeja Adebayo (1923-2002) was a celebrated Nigerian actress and singer who helped popularize traditional Yoruba music and storytelling through her performances and recordings.
Daeja Ogunlesi (1942-2018) was a Nigerian-born American engineer and entrepreneur who founded several successful technology companies in the United States. He was also a respected philanthropist and advocate for education and economic development in Africa.
More recently, Daeja Akingbola (born 1985) is a British-Nigerian fashion designer and entrepreneur who has gained recognition for her sustainable and ethical clothing line, which incorporates traditional Yoruba textile designs and techniques.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have carried the name Daeja, which has its roots in the rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba people in West Africa.
People
Daeja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Daeja 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
Daeja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Daeja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 730 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Daeja 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 469,526 US residents.
Is Daeja a common name?
We classify Daeja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 745 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Daeja most popular?
The single biggest year for Daeja was 2001, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Daeja is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Daeja a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Daeja 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.
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.