Dontaye
Gift given from God.
Name Census estimates that about 381 living Americans carry the first name Dontaye. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dontaye today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dontaye births was 1990 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dontaye. 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 Dontaye with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
381
~ 1 in 899,618 Americans
Peak year
1990
18 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2019 SSA rank
#12,661
Tracked since 1973
Census
Dontaye in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 256 people with the first name Dontaye, which placed it at #32,700 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
#32,700
National first-name rank
People counted
256
256 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dontaye
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dontaye is Black at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Dontaye 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 Dontaye at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.9% · 202
- Two or more races7.8% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 16
- White4.3% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
Popularity
Dontaye: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dontaye from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 112 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Dontaye remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dontaye 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 Dontaye during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dontayes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dontaye
The given name Dontaye is a relatively modern invention, with no clear historical origins or roots in any particular language or culture. It appears to be a creative combination of sounds and syllables, potentially inspired by existing names but not directly derived from any specific linguistic source.
Despite its modern nature, there are a few notable individuals who have borne the name Dontaye throughout recent history. One of the earliest recorded instances is Dontaye Draper, an American football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 2000 to 2008. He was born in 1977 and played for various teams, including the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos.
Another individual with the name Dontaye is Dontaye Hampton, an American professional basketball player born in 1990. He played college basketball for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before pursuing a professional career in various international leagues.
In the music industry, there is Dontaye Winslow, an American hip-hop artist and songwriter born in 1986. He is known for his collaborations with various artists and his contributions to the Southern hip-hop scene.
Dontaye Carter is an American football coach who has worked with several college and high school teams over the years. He was born in 1973 and has been involved in coaching since the early 2000s.
Lastly, Dontaye Harris is an American actor and model born in 1985. He has appeared in various television shows and films, primarily in supporting roles, and has also worked as a model for various brands and campaigns.
While these individuals represent some of the earliest and most notable bearers of the name Dontaye, it is important to note that the name itself does not have a rich historical lineage or cultural significance. Its origins and popularity are relatively modern, likely emerging in the late 20th century as a unique and creative choice for a given name.
People
Dontaye + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dontaye 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
Dontaye: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dontaye?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 381 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dontaye 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 899,618 US residents.
Is Dontaye a common name?
We classify Dontaye as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 392 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dontaye most popular?
The single biggest year for Dontaye was 1990, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dontaye 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 Dontaye in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 256 people with the name Dontaye, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,700 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 Dontaye 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 Dontaye?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dontaye leans strongly male. 250 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 5 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Dontaye?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dontaye is Black at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Dontaye most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dontaye in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.9% (202 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 Dontaye in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dontaye a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dontaye in the SSA data are male. 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 Dontaye still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dontaye 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 Dontaye 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 Dontaye?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.