Dane
Dane was given to 301 boys in 2025, #821 among boys’ names; 33,979 Americans have been recorded with it since 1898 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 30,800 Americans named Dane and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 32 years old and half are between 18 and 43.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dane by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dane mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dane is “a male given name transferred from the surname, or from the ethnic term Dane (like Scott or Norman).”
From Middle English Dane, from Old Norse danir or Old English Dene. Both forms ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic *daniz.
/deɪn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dane?
#821 among boys’ names, 2025
Dane fell from #630 in 2015 to #821 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.22 to 0.18 per 1,000.
1,080 babies in 1986, the peak
Dane peaked in 1986, when 1,080 babies were given it (1,069 boys, #221 among boys’ names). The 301 births of 2025 are 28% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 301 | #821 | 0.18 |
| 2024 | 276 | #873 | 0.16 |
| 2023 | 258 | #901 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 277 | #869 | 0.16 |
| 2021 | 285 | #835 | 0.16 |
| 2020 | 273 | #834 | 0.16 |
| 2019 | 253 | #872 | 0.14 |
| 2018 | 315 | #748 | 0.17 |
| 2017 | 313 | #753 | 0.17 |
| 2016 | 355 | #695 | 0.19 |
Every recorded year (116)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 424 | #630 | 0.22 |
| 2014 | 423 | #623 | 0.22 |
| 2013 | 482 | #550 | 0.25 |
| 2012 | 573 | #476 | 0.30 |
| 2011 | 574 | #470 | 0.30 |
| 2010 | 684 | #411 | 0.36 |
| 2009 | 818 | #372 | 0.41 |
| 2008 | 918 | #349 | 0.45 |
| 2007 | 949 | #340 | 0.46 |
| 2006 | 762 | #392 | 0.37 |
| 2005 | 560 | #457 | 0.28 |
| 2004 | 537 | #469 | 0.27 |
| 2003 | 574 | #437 | 0.29 |
| 2002 | 534 | #456 | 0.28 |
| 2001 | 549 | #441 | 0.28 |
| 2000 | 583 | #423 | 0.30 |
| 1999 | 545 | #428 | 0.28 |
| 1998 | 455 | #481 | 0.24 |
| 1997 | 505 | #442 | 0.27 |
| 1996 | 517 | #435 | 0.27 |
| 1995 | 517 | #443 | 0.27 |
| 1994 | 521 | #436 | 0.27 |
| 1993 | 516 | #430 | 0.26 |
| 1992 | 552 | #410 | 0.28 |
| 1991 | 580 | #392 | 0.29 |
| 1990 | 739 | #335 | 0.36 |
| 1989 | 682 | #338 | 0.34 |
| 1988 | 760 | #299 | 0.40 |
| 1987 | 757 | #285 | 0.41 |
| 1986 | 1,069 | #221 | 0.58 |
| 1985 | 1,003 | #230 | 0.54 |
| 1984 | 637 | #306 | 0.35 |
| 1983 | 831 | #252 | 0.46 |
| 1982 | 398 | #419 | 0.22 |
| 1981 | 334 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 321 | #468 | 0.18 |
| 1979 | 337 | #437 | 0.20 |
| 1978 | 259 | #505 | 0.16 |
| 1977 | 167 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 157 | #654 | 0.10 |
| 1975 | 160 | #645 | 0.10 |
| 1974 | 174 | #610 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 207 | #543 | 0.13 |
| 1972 | 205 | #559 | 0.13 |
| 1971 | 205 | #569 | 0.12 |
| 1970 | 235 | #527 | 0.13 |
| 1969 | 247 | #489 | 0.14 |
| 1968 | 255 | #475 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 221 | #505 | 0.13 |
| 1966 | 179 | #568 | 0.10 |
| 1965 | 215 | #522 | 0.12 |
| 1964 | 342 | #431 | 0.17 |
| 1963 | 316 | #448 | 0.16 |
| 1962 | 281 | #473 | 0.14 |
| 1961 | 299 | #470 | 0.14 |
| 1960 | 288 | #468 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 357 | #421 | 0.17 |
| 1958 | 287 | #462 | 0.14 |
| 1957 | 353 | #414 | 0.16 |
| 1956 | 291 | #441 | 0.14 |
| 1955 | 225 | #488 | 0.11 |
| 1954 | 280 | #428 | 0.14 |
| 1953 | 179 | #533 | 0.09 |
| 1952 | 189 | #506 | 0.10 |
| 1951 | 161 | #533 | 0.09 |
| 1950 | 151 | #549 | 0.08 |
| 1949 | 160 | #528 | 0.09 |
| 1948 | 144 | #556 | 0.08 |
| 1947 | 176 | #511 | 0.10 |
| 1946 | 139 | #542 | 0.09 |
| 1945 | 69 | #736 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 29 | #1,239 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 27 | #1,349 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 16 | #1,815 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 23 | #1,420 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 29 | #1,254 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 14 | #1,895 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 15 | #1,842 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 19 | #1,590 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,426 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 20 | #1,551 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 26 | #1,329 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,656 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 24 | #1,436 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 9 | #2,697 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 20 | #1,656 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 10 | #2,634 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 16 | #1,980 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 24 | #1,566 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,621 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 35 | #1,205 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 21 | #1,735 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 11 | #2,656 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 17 | #1,967 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 27 | #1,458 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 16 | #2,064 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 10 | #2,717 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,923 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 9 | #2,780 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,246 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,494 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 11 | #1,999 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,318 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,342 | 0.01 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,246 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,163 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dane a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 33,979 Americans recorded as Dane, 1% are girls and 99% boys. In 2025 it went to 301 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Dane: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dane, and how old are they?
30,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 33,979 Americans ever recorded as Dane. The median Dane alive today is 32 years old; half are between 18 and 43.
The 2020 Census counted 29,787 people named Dane (513 women and girls, 29,274 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 29,999 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 97 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,220 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,210 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 10,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,220 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Dane born?
The states with the most babies named Dane are California, Texas and Florida, with 29% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 29 | #831 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 25 | #958 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 21 | #733 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 18 | #531 | 1.1× |
| Utah | 14 | #334 | 1.7× |
| Arizona | 11 | #600 | 0.9× |
| New York | 10 | #1,142 | 0.6× |
| Washington | 10 | #649 | 1.7× |
| Virginia | 10 | #684 | 0.5× |
| Tennessee | 10 | #683 | 0.4× |
Where Dane is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dane is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 3.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Dane with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 341,331 babies since 1880, Dane is the second most given (10.0% of them). In 2025 it was given to 301 of their 861 babies (35%), again the second most given.
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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Dane
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Dane and names like it
- Compare Dane and DannyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sDane peaked in 1986.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dane since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Dane: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1986The year the most babies were named Dane.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Dane alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with DMost given first.