Danya
A feminine name of Russian origin meaning "God's gift".
Name Census estimates that about 3,427 living Americans carry the first name Danya. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Danya today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danya births was 2007 (126 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danya. 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 Danya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 100,016 Americans
Peak year
2007
126 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2003 SSA rank
#3,827
Tracked since 1939
Census
Danya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,317 people with the first name Danya, which placed it at #5,236 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
#5,236
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,317 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danya is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.7%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Danya 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 Danya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.4% · 1,640
- Hispanic or Latino26.7% · 886
- Black or African American14.7% · 489
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 143
- Two or more races4.0% · 132
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Danya
Out of the 3,645 babies given the name Danya since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Danya as a male name
- Ranked #8,011 in 2003
- 8 male births in 2003
- Peak: 1975 (8 births)
Danya as a female name
- Ranked #3,827 in 2024
- 39 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (126 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danya leans strongly female. 3,212 people counted with this name were female (97.0%), compared with 98 male bearers (3.0%).
Popularity
Danya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danya from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 916 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
Danya 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 Danya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Danya, while Tennessee, Maryland, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 86 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danya
The name Danya has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the word "Dan," which means "judge" or "leader." The name dates back to ancient times and has been found in biblical texts, particularly in the Book of Genesis, where Dan was one of the twelve sons of Jacob and the progenitor of one of the tribes of Israel.
The name Danya gained popularity during the biblical era and was commonly used among Hebrew communities. It was also adopted by other cultures and languages, leading to variations in spelling and pronunciation. For example, in Russian, the name is spelled as "Danya," while in Arabic, it is written as "Dana."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Danya can be traced back to the 12th century, when a Jewish scholar and philosopher named Danya al-Yahudi lived in Egypt. He was known for his contributions to the study of Arabic grammar and literature.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Danya. In the 16th century, Danya Mikhailovich Khovrin was a Russian military commander who played a significant role in the Livonian War against Sweden and Poland-Lithuania. He was born around 1530 and died in 1605.
In the 19th century, Danya Bunsen was a German-born American engineer and inventor. He was born in 1834 and is credited with developing the first successful gas burner, which became widely used in laboratories and households.
Another famous figure named Danya was Danya Hugaveni, an Indian social reformer and activist who fought for the rights of women and the abolition of the caste system. She was born in 1880 and dedicated her life to promoting education and social justice in India.
In the field of literature, Danya Storey was a British novelist and poet who lived in the early 20th century. She was born in 1891 and is best known for her novel "The Windfall," which explores themes of love, loss, and the complexities of human relationships.
The name Danya has also been used in various artistic and cultural contexts. For instance, Danya Kupferman is a contemporary Israeli painter and sculptor whose works have been exhibited in galleries around the world.
While the name Danya has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has transcended linguistic and geographical boundaries, becoming a widely recognized and appreciated name across different societies and time periods.
People
Danya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danya 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
Danya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,427 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danya 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 100,016 US residents.
Is Danya a common name?
We classify Danya as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,645 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danya most popular?
The single biggest year for Danya was 2007, when 126 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danya is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,317 people with the name Danya, or 1.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,236 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 Danya 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 Danya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danya leans strongly female. 3,212 people counted with this name were female (97.0%), compared with 98 male bearers (3.0%). 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 Danya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danya is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.7%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Danya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Danya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.4% (1,640 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 Danya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danya a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Danya 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 Danya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danya 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 Danya 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 Danya?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Danya, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.