Dacota
Dacota was last recorded in 2022, when 7 babies were given it; 679 Americans have been recorded with it between 1988 and 2022 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dacota by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Dacota?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #10,028, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
50 babies in 1998, the peak
Dacota peaked in 1998, when 50 babies were given it (40 boys, #2,237 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | under 5 | 7 | #10,028 | |
| 2017 | 6 | #14,541 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 5 | #16,850 | 8 | #9,018 |
| 2014 | 5 | #17,163 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 5 | #17,163 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 5 | #17,478 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | under 5 | 7 | #9,830 | |
| 2010 | 8 | #12,551 | 6 | #11,022 |
| 2009 | 11 | #10,129 | 8 | #9,150 |
| 2008 | 7 | #14,181 | 13 | #6,462 |
Every recorded year (30)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 10 | #11,025 | 14 | #5,968 |
| 2006 | 7 | #13,923 | 17 | #5,114 |
| 2005 | 8 | #12,080 | 16 | #5,078 |
| 2004 | under 5 | 19 | #4,444 | |
| 2003 | 14 | #7,681 | 14 | #5,314 |
| 2002 | under 5 | 34 | #2,764 | |
| 2001 | 7 | #12,342 | 33 | #2,813 |
| 2000 | 12 | #8,142 | 25 | #3,320 |
| 1999 | 6 | #13,045 | 30 | #2,804 |
| 1998 | 10 | #8,724 | 40 | #2,237 |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,186 | 40 | #2,171 |
| 1996 | 12 | #7,237 | 20 | #3,422 |
| 1995 | 6 | #12,106 | 32 | #2,401 |
| 1994 | 11 | #7,713 | 25 | #2,862 |
| 1993 | 5 | #13,954 | 17 | #3,684 |
| 1992 | 5 | #13,753 | 21 | #3,122 |
| 1991 | 9 | #8,745 | 20 | #3,124 |
| 1990 | 5 | #13,432 | 12 | #4,450 |
| 1989 | under 5 | 8 | #5,734 | |
| 1988 | under 5 | 5 | #7,501 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Dacota a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 679 Americans recorded as Dacota, 28% are girls and 72% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Dacota: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dacota, and how old are they?
An estimated 664 Americans named Dacota and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 27 years old and half are between 21 and 31. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 621 people named Dacota (183 women and girls, 438 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 662 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
How common is the spelling Dacota?
Dacota is a less common spelling of Dakota: SSA has recorded 679 Dacota and 134,576 Dakota since 1880.
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 140,917 babies since 1880, Dacota is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 2,171 babies recorded by SSA was a Dacota (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Dacota and names like it
- Compare Dacota and DakotaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sDacota peaked in 1998.
- Indiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dacota since 1910.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Dacota.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Dacota alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with DMost given first.