Danh
A Vietnamese masculine name meaning "glory, honor, fame, reputation".
Name Census estimates that about 209 living Americans carry the first name Danh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Danh today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danh births was 1990 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danh. 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
209
~ 1 in 1,639,973 Americans
Peak year
1990
13 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2009 SSA rank
#11,296
Tracked since 1980
Census
Danh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,060 people with the first name Danh, which placed it at #7,420 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
#7,420
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,060 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (0.8%) and Two or More Races (0.8%). 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 Danh 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 Danh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.3% · 2,004
- White0.8% · 16
- Two or more races0.8% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 11
- Black or African American0.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Popularity
Danh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danh from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 92 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Danh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Danh 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 Danh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danhs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Danh
The name Danh has its origins in the Vietnamese language. It is a unisex name that can be used for both males and females. The name is derived from the Vietnamese word "danh," which means "famous" or "renowned."
In ancient Vietnamese history, the name Danh was often given to children with the hope that they would grow up to become successful and achieve great things in life. The name was also associated with the desire for the child to have a good reputation and be well-respected in society.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Danh can be found in the "Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu" (Complete Annals of Dai Viet), a historical text that chronicles the history of Vietnam from the early centuries to the late 18th century. The text mentions several individuals with the name Danh, including Danh Khao, a military general who lived during the 12th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Danh. One example is Danh Dung (1786-1839), a Vietnamese scholar and poet who was known for his works on Confucian philosophy and literature. Another famous bearer of the name was Danh Vo (1892-1982), a Vietnamese politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam from 1954 to 1955.
In the realm of arts and culture, the name Danh is associated with Danh Vo, a Danish artist of Vietnamese descent who was born in 1975. His work often explores themes of identity, diaspora, and cultural memory. Danh Dung (1911-1991) was a renowned Vietnamese painter and sculptor who is considered one of the pioneers of modern art in Vietnam.
Another notable figure with the name Danh was Danh Thi Nai (1942-2020), a Vietnamese mathematician and academic who made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry. She was the first woman in Vietnam to receive a doctorate in mathematics and served as a professor at several prestigious universities.
While the name Danh may not be as common in modern times, it continues to hold historical significance and cultural resonance in Vietnamese society, reflecting the values of achievement, reputation, and success that were associated with the name in ancient times.
People
Danh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danh 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
Danh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 209 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danh 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 1,639,973 US residents.
Is Danh a common name?
We classify Danh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 216 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danh most popular?
The single biggest year for Danh was 1990, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danh 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 Danh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,060 people with the name Danh, or 0.68 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,420 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 Danh 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 Danh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danh leans strongly male. 1,738 people counted with this name were male (84.5%), compared with 320 female bearers (15.5%). 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 Danh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (0.8%) and Two or More Races (0.8%). 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 Danh most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Danh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (2,004 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 Danh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Danh in the SSA data are male. 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 Danh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danh 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 Danh 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 common is the name Danh?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Danh at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.