Dione
One of the Oceanids in Greek mythology, the name represents a feminine form of Zeus.
Name Census estimates that about 2,555 living Americans carry the first name Dione. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Dione today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dione births was 1970 (182 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dione. 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 Dione with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 134,150 Americans
Peak year
1970
182 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2020 SSA rank
#10,956
Tracked since 1929
Census
Dione in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,634 people with the first name Dione, which placed it at #6,155 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
#6,155
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,634 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dione
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dione is Black at 43.4%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Dione 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 Dione at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American43.4% · 1,144
- White38.0% · 1,001
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 243
- Two or more races4.7% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 94
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Dione
Dione leans heavily female at 80.7% of total registrations, but 567 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dione as a male name
- Ranked #10,956 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1970 (21 births)
Dione as a female name
- Ranked #12,466 in 2023
- 7 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1970 (161 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dione leans strongly female. 2,188 people counted with this name were female (82.9%), compared with 450 male bearers (17.1%).
Popularity
Dione: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dione from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,084 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dione 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 Dione during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Diones live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Louisiana, Illinois recorded the most babies named Dione, while Washington, North Carolina, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dione
The name Dione has its origins in ancient Greek mythology. It is derived from the Greek word "dio" meaning "divine" or "heavenly." The name was originally given to a Titaness, the mother of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.
In Greek mythology, Dione was an oracular goddess who was revered in Dodona, one of the oldest religious oracles in ancient Greece. She was often associated with the earth and fertility, and was regarded as a nurturing and life-giving figure.
The earliest recorded use of the name Dione can be found in the works of ancient Greek poets and writers, such as Homer's Iliad and Hesiod's Theogony, written around the 8th century BC. These ancient texts describe Dione as a powerful and revered deity.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Dione was Dione of Syracuse, a Greek historian and philosopher who lived in the 4th century BC. She wrote a history of Sicily, which has unfortunately been lost to time.
In the 1st century AD, there was a Roman woman named Dione, who was the wife of the Roman emperor Claudius. She was known for her beauty and intelligence, and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Roman Empire.
During the Renaissance period, the name Dione gained popularity among artists and intellectuals who were inspired by classical Greek and Roman culture. One notable figure was Dione Battista Alberti, an Italian Renaissance humanist, author, artist, and architect, who lived from 1404 to 1472.
In the world of literature, Dione Venables was an English poet and writer who lived from 1822 to 1900. She was known for her romantic and introspective poetry, which reflected her deep connection with nature and spirituality.
Another notable figure was Dione Lucas, a renowned English chef and cookbook author who lived from 1909 to 1971. She was a pioneer in the field of French cuisine and helped popularize it in the English-speaking world.
People
Dione + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dione 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
Dione: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dione?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,555 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dione 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 134,150 US residents.
Is Dione a common name?
We classify Dione as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,940 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dione most popular?
The single biggest year for Dione was 1970, when 182 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dione is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dione in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,634 people with the name Dione, or 0.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,155 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 Dione 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 Dione?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dione leans strongly female. 2,188 people counted with this name were female (82.9%), compared with 450 male bearers (17.1%). 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 Dione?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dione is Black at 43.4%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Dione most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dione in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (1,144 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 Dione in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dione a female name?
Yes, 80.7% of people registered as Dione 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 Dione still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dione 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 Dione 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 are named Dione?
Find out how many people share the name Dione on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.