Dia
A girl's name derived from Spanish meaning "day".
Name Census estimates that about 2,189 living Americans carry the first name Dia. It is a predominantly female name (95.0% of registrations). The average person named Dia today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dia births was 2015 (62 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dia. 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 Dia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 156,580 Americans
Peak year
2015
62 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,123
Tracked since 1948
Census
Dia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,539 people with the first name Dia, which placed it at #6,356 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
#6,356
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,539 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
34.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dia is White at 34.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.3%) and Black (23.4%). 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 Dia 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 Dia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White34.1% · 867
- Asian and Pacific Islander28.3% · 718
- Black or African American23.4% · 594
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 213
- Two or more races5.0% · 128
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Dia
Dia leans heavily female at 95.0% of total registrations, but 117 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dia as a male name
- Ranked #12,740 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1972 (14 births)
Dia as a female name
- Ranked #4,123 in 2024
- 35 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (62 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dia leans strongly female. 2,299 people counted with this name were female (90.7%), compared with 237 male bearers (9.3%).
Popularity
Dia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dia from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 500 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dia 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 Dia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Dia, while North Carolina, Florida, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dia
The name Dia has its origins in several ancient cultures and languages. It is derived from the Latin word "deus," meaning "god" or "deity." This connects the name to the Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses.
In Greek mythology, Dia was one of the Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. According to legend, she was one of the ocean nymphs who presided over the freshwater sources on Earth.
The name Dia can also be traced back to the Sanskrit word "diya," which means "light" or "lamp." This linguistic connection ties the name to the concept of illumination and spiritual enlightenment in ancient Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dia dates back to the 5th century BCE. Dia was the name of a Greek woman who was a devoted follower of the philosopher Socrates. She is mentioned in Plato's dialogues as being present during some of Socrates' famous discourses.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Dia. In the 1st century CE, Dia Chrysostom was a renowned Greek philosopher and orator from Prusa, Bithynia. She was known for her eloquent speeches and teachings on moral philosophy.
In the 12th century, Dia al-Kahina was a Berber queen and military leader who fought against the Arab conquest of North Africa. She is celebrated as a symbol of resistance and courage in Berber and Algerian history.
During the Renaissance period, Dia Raphael was an Italian painter and the daughter of the renowned artist Raphael Sanzio. She was born in 1520 and is believed to have inherited her father's artistic talents.
In the 19th century, Dia Evelyn was an English poet and writer. She was born in 1855 and published several volumes of poetry that explored themes of nature, love, and spirituality.
Another notable figure named Dia was Dia Abbot, an American activist and feminist who lived from 1892 to 1968. She was a prominent figure in the women's suffrage movement and fought for equal rights and social justice.
People
Dia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dia 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
Dia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,189 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dia 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 156,580 US residents.
Is Dia a common name?
We classify Dia as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,333 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dia most popular?
The single biggest year for Dia was 2015, when 62 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dia is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,539 people with the name Dia, or 0.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,356 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 Dia 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 Dia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dia leans strongly female. 2,299 people counted with this name were female (90.7%), compared with 237 male bearers (9.3%). 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 Dia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dia is White at 34.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.3%) and Black (23.4%). 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 Dia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.1% (867 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 Dia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dia a female name?
Yes, 95.0% of people registered as Dia 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 Dia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dia 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 Dia 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 share the name Dia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.