Dayami
Origin uncertain, but possibly from Spanish 'dia y ami' meaning 'day and friend'.
Name Census estimates that about 1,214 living Americans carry the first name Dayami. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dayami today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dayami births was 2008 (392 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dayami. 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
- • Dayami is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 282,335 Americans
Peak year
2008
392 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,771
Tracked since 1987
Census
Dayami in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,307 people with the first name Dayami, which placed it at #10,274 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
#10,274
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,307 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dayami
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dayami is Hispanic at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Black (0.4%). 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 Dayami 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 Dayami at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.6% · 1,276
- White1.5% · 19
- Black or African American0.4% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 3
- Two or more races0.2% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Dayami: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dayami from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 562 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Dayami remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dayami 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 Dayami during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dayamis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Dayami, while South Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dayami
The name Dayami is believed to have its origins in the ancient Tamil language, spoken primarily in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the northern regions of Sri Lanka. The name itself is derived from the Tamil words "day" meaning "to give" and "ami" meaning "prosperity" or "wealth," thus signifying a bountiful giver or one who brings prosperity.
While the exact time period of the name's inception is unclear, it is thought to have been in use among the Tamil people for several centuries, possibly dating back to the medieval era when the Tamil region flourished under various dynasties and kingdoms. The name's linguistic roots can be traced back to the rich literary traditions of Tamil poetry and literature, which often celebrated the virtues of generosity and abundance.
In ancient Tamil scriptures and texts, the name Dayami is mentioned as a symbolic representation of the divine feminine energy, associated with the goddesses of fertility, nourishment, and prosperity. This connection to the divine feminine may have contributed to the name's popularity among the Tamil populace, who revered goddesses as embodiments of power and abundance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dayami can be found in the ancient Tamil epic Silappadikaram, composed around the 5th or 6th century CE. In this epic, a character named Dayami is depicted as a virtuous and generous woman, renowned for her compassion and acts of charity.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Dayami, though records of their lives may be incomplete or shrouded in legend. One such figure is Dayami of Kanchipuram (c. 8th century CE), a renowned scholar and poet who is said to have authored several literary works, now lost to time.
Another noteworthy Dayami was a Tamil queen who ruled over the Pandyan kingdom in the 10th century CE. Her reign was marked by prosperity and cultural advancement, and she is celebrated for her patronage of the arts and literature.
In the 12th century, a renowned Tamil saint and mystic named Dayami of Chidambaram gained widespread recognition for her devotional poetry and spiritual teachings. Her compositions were highly influential in the Bhakti movement, which emphasized devotion and love for the divine.
In the 16th century, a Tamil scholar and grammarian named Dayami Shastri made significant contributions to the study and preservation of the Tamil language, authoring several works on grammar and linguistics.
Lastly, in the 19th century, a Tamil social reformer and educator named Dayami Ayyangar played a pivotal role in promoting education and women's rights in the Tamil region, establishing several schools and advocating for the empowerment of women.
People
Dayami + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dayami 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
Dayami: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dayami?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dayami 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 282,335 US residents.
Is Dayami a common name?
We classify Dayami as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,226 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dayami most popular?
The single biggest year for Dayami was 2008, when 392 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dayami is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dayami in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,307 people with the name Dayami, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,274 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 Dayami 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 Dayami?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dayami appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,302 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Dayami?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dayami is Hispanic at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Black (0.4%). 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 Dayami most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Dayami in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.6% (1,276 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 Dayami in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dayami a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dayami 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 Dayami still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dayami 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 Dayami 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 Americans are named Dayami?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Dayami at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.