Dawnella
A feminine name deriving from dawn, meaning "daybreak" or "morning light."
Name Census estimates that about 25 living Americans carry the first name Dawnella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dawnella today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dawnella births was 1958 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dawnella. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Dawnella. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
25
~ 1 in 13,710,174 Americans
Peak year
1958
7 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1975 SSA rank
#7,339
Tracked since 1958
Popularity
Dawnella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dawnella from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 12 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dawnella 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 Dawnella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dawnella
The name Dawnella is a relatively modern feminine name derived from the English word "dawn," referring to the first appearance of light in the morning. It is a compound name, with the root "dawn" combined with the suffix "-ella," which is a diminutive form commonly used to create feminine names.
The name Dawnella does not have a long historical lineage or a specific cultural origin. It is a constructed name, likely created in the 20th century as a part of the trend of creating new names with nature-inspired elements. The name evokes a sense of freshness, new beginnings, and the beauty of the sunrise.
While there are no known ancient texts or religious scriptures that directly reference the name Dawnella, the concept of dawn has been celebrated in various cultures throughout history. In ancient Greek mythology, Eos was the goddess of dawn, often depicted as a beautiful woman adorned with rosy fingers and arms. In Hindu mythology, Ushas, the goddess of dawn, was praised in the Vedic hymns for her radiant beauty and her role in bringing light to the world.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Dawnella are relatively recent, with the earliest instances appearing in the mid-20th century. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Dawnella Greeney, an American painter and illustrator born in 1951. Another notable person with this name was Dawnella Wilkie, a Canadian actress and model active in the 1970s and 1980s.
Other individuals with the name Dawnella include Dawnella Ramsey, an American basketball player who played for the University of Arizona in the late 1990s, and Dawnella Wills, an Australian author and poet who published several collections of poetry in the early 2000s.
While not a common name, Dawnella has been used by a handful of individuals throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Its meaning and association with the beauty of the dawn make it a unique and evocative choice for a given name.
People
Dawnella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dawnella 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
Dawnella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dawnella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dawnella 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 13,710,174 US residents.
Is Dawnella a common name?
We classify Dawnella as "Very Rare". It ranks above 43.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dawnella most popular?
The single biggest year for Dawnella was 1958, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dawnella is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Dawnella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dawnella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dawnella 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 Dawnella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dawnella 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 Dawnella 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Dawnella?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.