Dayonna
A feminine name of modern American origin, a variant of Diona.
Name Census estimates that about 767 living Americans carry the first name Dayonna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dayonna today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dayonna births was 2008 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dayonna. 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
767
~ 1 in 446,877 Americans
Peak year
2008
45 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,442
Tracked since 1983
Census
Dayonna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 549 people with the first name Dayonna, which placed it at #19,324 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
#19,324
National first-name rank
People counted
549
549 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dayonna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dayonna is Black at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.5%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Dayonna 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 Dayonna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.7% · 465
- Two or more races7.5% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 21
- White3.3% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Dayonna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dayonna 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 354 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
Dayonna 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 Dayonna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dayonnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia recorded the most babies named Dayonna, while North Carolina, District of Columbia, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dayonna
The given name Dayonna has its origins in the English language, likely emerging in the late 20th century as a unique and creative variation of more traditional names like Donna or Yvonne. It is believed to be a blend of the words "day" and "Yvonne," possibly intended to convey a sense of brightness, freshness, or a new beginning.
While the name Dayonna itself does not appear to have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its components can be traced back to various linguistic roots. The word "day" finds its origins in the Old English "dæg," which is derived from the Proto-Germanic "dag-az," ultimately stemming from the Proto-Indo-European root "*agh-," meaning "to burn or shine." This connection with light and radiance may have contributed to the naming inspiration.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Dayonna are relatively recent, with the first known instances appearing in the late 20th century. One of the earliest notable individuals with this name is Dayonna Browne, an American former professional basketball player who was born in 1985 and played in the WNBA for teams like the San Antonio Silver Stars and the Atlanta Dream.
Another individual named Dayonna is Dayonna Watts, an American actress and singer born in 1990. She is best known for her role as Esperanza in the Disney Channel series "Cory in the House" and has also appeared in various other television shows and films.
In the world of sports, Dayonna Bundy is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in the 100 and 200-meter sprints. Born in 1994, she has represented Canada in international competitions such as the Commonwealth Games and the World Athletics Championships.
Dayonna Golatt, born in 1993, is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA. She was drafted in the second round of the 2016 WNBA Draft after a successful college career at the University of Cincinnati.
Lastly, Dayonna Denton is an American singer and songwriter born in 1997. She has gained recognition for her unique vocal style and has released several independent albums and singles in the pop and R&B genres.
While the name Dayonna is still relatively uncommon, it has gained popularity in recent decades, likely due to its unique sound and meaning. Its emergence as a given name reflects the trend of creating fresh and creative names by combining or modifying existing ones, often drawing inspiration from various linguistic and cultural sources.
People
Dayonna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dayonna 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
Dayonna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dayonna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 767 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dayonna 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 446,877 US residents.
Is Dayonna a common name?
We classify Dayonna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 780 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dayonna most popular?
The single biggest year for Dayonna was 2008, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dayonna is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dayonna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 549 people with the name Dayonna, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,324 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 Dayonna 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 Dayonna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dayonna appears almost entirely female. Of the 552 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Dayonna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dayonna is Black at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.5%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Dayonna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dayonna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.7% (465 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 Dayonna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dayonna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dayonna 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 Dayonna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dayonna 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 Dayonna 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 Dayonna?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.