Dayna
Feminine given name derived from the Welsh Dana meaning "birth, ray of light".
Name Census estimates that about 13,170 living Americans carry the first name Dayna. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Dayna today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dayna births was 1987 (368 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dayna. 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 Dayna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Dayna is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 87 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,025 Americans
Peak year
1987
368 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1995 SSA rank
#5,976
Tracked since 1937
Census
Dayna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,648 people with the first name Dayna, which placed it at #2,012 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
#2,012
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,648 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dayna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dayna is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Dayna 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 Dayna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.2% · 9,712
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 1,430
- Black or African American9.7% · 1,325
- Two or more races4.3% · 581
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 459
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 141
Gender
Gender distribution for Dayna
Out of the 14,528 babies given the name Dayna since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Dayna as a male name
- Ranked #9,172 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1973 (8 births)
Dayna as a female name
- Ranked #5,976 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1988 (361 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dayna leans strongly female. 13,502 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 149 male bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Dayna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dayna from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 3,320 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dayna 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 Dayna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Daynas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Dayna, while South Carolina, Rhode Island, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 254 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dayna
The name Dayna is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "dæg," meaning "day." It was initially used as a feminine form of the male name "Dan" or "Daniel," which also has its roots in Hebrew, meaning "God is my judge."
The earliest recorded use of the name Dayna dates back to the 16th century in England, where it was occasionally used as a variant spelling of the more common names Diana or Dinah. However, it wasn't until the 20th century that Dayna gained popularity as a standalone name.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Dayna was Dayna Curry, an American humanitarian aid worker who was born in 1964 and tragically killed in Afghanistan in 2002. She dedicated her life to providing aid and assistance to war-torn regions.
Another historical figure bearing the name Dayna was Dayna Weller, an American actress born in 1953. She appeared in several television shows and films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including the popular sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati."
In the world of sports, Dayna Kurtz, an American former professional tennis player born in 1968, achieved success on the WTA Tour, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 10 in singles and winning four Grand Slam doubles titles.
Dayna Hartwick, a Canadian artist and painter born in 1970, has gained recognition for her vibrant and expressive works, which often explore themes of nature and the human experience.
In literature, Dayna Ingram is the name of a fictional character in the popular science fiction series "Andromeda," created by Gene Roddenberry. The character, played by Laura Bertram, was a skilled weapons officer and a member of the crew aboard the starship Andromeda Ascendant.
While the name Dayna has its roots in English and Old English, it has also been embraced by various cultures and communities around the world, each adding their unique interpretations and meanings to the name.
People
Dayna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dayna 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
Dayna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dayna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,170 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dayna 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 26,025 US residents.
Is Dayna a common name?
We classify Dayna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,528 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dayna most popular?
The single biggest year for Dayna was 1987, when 368 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dayna is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dayna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,648 people with the name Dayna, or 4.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,012 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 Dayna 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 Dayna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dayna leans strongly female. 13,502 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 149 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Dayna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dayna is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Dayna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dayna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.2% (9,712 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 Dayna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dayna a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Dayna 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 Dayna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dayna 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 Dayna 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 Dayna?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Dayna at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.