Dawna
Dawna was last recorded in 2023, when 5 babies were given it; 6,017 Americans have been recorded with it between 1919 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,040 Americans named Dawna and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (84% of everyone recorded); the median is 59 years old and half are between 51 and 66.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dawna by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dawna mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dawna is “a female given name from English.”
From Dawn + -a in the 20th century.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dawna?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,760, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
264 babies in 1966, the peak
Dawna peaked in 1966, when 264 girls were given it, #579 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5 | #15,760 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 6 | #14,569 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 7 | #13,344 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #17,207 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #15,433 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 7 | #13,832 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 6 | #15,719 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 10 | #11,003 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 12 | #9,439 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 7 | #13,349 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (95)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 6 | #14,599 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 8 | #11,567 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,672 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 6 | #13,955 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 10 | #9,321 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 19 | #5,485 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 6 | #12,849 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 24 | #4,409 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 22 | #4,619 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 19 | #5,062 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 25 | #4,142 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 34 | #3,301 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 30 | #3,596 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 30 | #3,553 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 39 | #2,913 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 42 | #2,665 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 42 | #2,548 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 40 | #2,536 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 45 | #2,271 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 37 | #2,608 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 57 | #1,868 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 49 | #2,050 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 76 | #1,556 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 91 | #1,364 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 96 | #1,319 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 73 | #1,572 | 0.05 |
| 1978 | 63 | #1,675 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 66 | #1,613 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 92 | #1,226 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 118 | #1,024 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 117 | #1,026 | 0.08 |
| 1973 | 107 | #1,077 | 0.07 |
| 1972 | 159 | #830 | 0.10 |
| 1971 | 169 | #822 | 0.10 |
| 1970 | 195 | #756 | 0.11 |
| 1969 | 200 | #709 | 0.12 |
| 1968 | 233 | #633 | 0.14 |
| 1967 | 227 | #635 | 0.14 |
| 1966 | 264 | #579 | 0.16 |
| 1965 | 233 | #642 | 0.13 |
| 1964 | 258 | #637 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 210 | #703 | 0.11 |
| 1962 | 180 | #776 | 0.09 |
| 1961 | 177 | #788 | 0.09 |
| 1960 | 175 | #771 | 0.09 |
| 1959 | 168 | #786 | 0.08 |
| 1958 | 152 | #818 | 0.08 |
| 1957 | 156 | #809 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 234 | #626 | 0.12 |
| 1955 | 91 | #1,054 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 79 | #1,109 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 63 | #1,214 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 51 | #1,354 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 66 | #1,151 | 0.04 |
| 1950 | 53 | #1,259 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 40 | #1,455 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 45 | #1,373 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 53 | #1,242 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 43 | #1,322 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 40 | #1,267 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 32 | #1,437 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 28 | #1,600 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 39 | #1,281 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 28 | #1,478 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 27 | #1,484 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,812 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 25 | #1,513 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,774 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 20 | #1,702 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 20 | #1,732 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 22 | #1,615 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,795 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 15 | #2,160 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 17 | #1,959 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,448 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,217 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,869 | under 0.01 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,584 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,732 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,985 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 11 | #3,010 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 10 | #3,174 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,571 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 10 | #3,214 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,371 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dawna a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dawna has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 95 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Dawna: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dawna, and how old are they?
5,040 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 84% of the 6,017 Americans ever recorded as Dawna. The median Dawna alive today is 59 years old; half are between 51 and 66.
The 2020 Census counted 5,293 people named Dawna (5,282 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,300 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 141 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,870 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,220 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 657 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 135 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 23 |
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 Dawna born?
The states with the most babies named Dawna are California, Pennsylvania and Texas, with 45% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 858 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 287 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 271 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 246 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 195 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Utah | 164 | not ranked | 3.4× |
| Washington | 158 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Oklahoma | 137 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| New York | 101 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Kansas | 91 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Dawna is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dawna is most over-represented in Utah: since 1919 it was given 3.4 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 girls’ 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 Dawna 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 11,384 babies since 1880, Dawna is the most given (53% of them).
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 Dawna
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 Dawna and names like it
- Compare Dawna and DawneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sDawna peaked in 1966.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dawna since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Dawna: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1966The year the most babies were named Dawna.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Dawna alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.