Find out how popular the last name Datta is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Datta.

Datta, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Datta surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Datta in America

Datta is the 16012th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Datta surname appeared 1,813 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Datta.

We can also compare 2010 data for Datta to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Datta

The surname DATTA originated in India and can be traced back to the 5th century AD. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "datta" which means "given" or "bestowed." The name was commonly found among members of the Brahmin caste, particularly in the states of West Bengal, Odisha, and Assam.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name DATTA appears in the Damodarpur copper-plate inscription, dated to the 5th century AD, during the reign of the Gupta Empire. This ancient document mentions a person named Datta who held an important administrative position.

In the 11th century, the name DATTA is mentioned in the Chand Bardai's Prithviraj Raso, an epic poem that chronicles the life of the legendary Rajput king Prithviraj Chauhan. The poem refers to a minister named Datta who served under the king.

The DATTA surname has also been associated with several notable figures in Indian history. One of the most famous was Narendranath Datta (1863-1939), better known as Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu monk and philosopher who played a crucial role in introducing Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world.

Another prominent individual with the DATTA surname was Sudhamoy Datta (1901-1975), a renowned Bengali poet and novelist who was awarded the Jnanpith Award, one of India's highest literary honors.

In the field of music, Annapurna Datta (1917-2008) was a celebrated Hindustani classical vocalist and recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award.

The DATTA surname has also been associated with several place names in India. For example, Dattapukur is a locality in Kolkata, West Bengal, named after the ancient Datta family that once resided there.

Over the centuries, the spelling of the DATTA surname has undergone minor variations, such as Dutta, Datta, and Datto, but the core meaning and pronunciation have remained largely unchanged.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Datta

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Datta.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Datta was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Datta has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Datta was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Datta, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!