Dena
Dena was given to 30 girls in 2025, #4,580 among girls’ names; 32,535 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 26,200 Americans named Dena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (81% of everyone recorded); the median is 56 years old and half are between 47 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Dena?
#4,580 among girls’ names, 2025
Dena fell from #4,012 in 2015 to #4,580 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 20.7 to 18.7 per million.
1,542 babies in 1970, the peak
Dena peaked in 1970, when 1,542 girls were given it, #208 among girls’ names. The 30 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 30 | #4,580 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 29 | #4,692 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 27 | #4,900 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 35 | #4,133 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 32 | #4,342 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 29 | #4,571 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 32 | #4,366 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 37 | #3,944 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 42 | #3,645 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 44 | #3,537 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 37 | #4,012 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 45 | #3,502 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 43 | #3,591 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 34 | #4,319 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 42 | #3,678 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 50 | #3,265 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 47 | #3,470 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 59 | #2,965 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 61 | #2,938 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 66 | #2,712 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 69 | #2,503 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 65 | #2,561 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 84 | #2,092 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 93 | #1,900 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 71 | #2,264 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 94 | #1,828 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 90 | #1,771 | 0.05 |
| 1998 | 101 | #1,609 | 0.06 |
| 1997 | 101 | #1,587 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 154 | #1,176 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 127 | #1,308 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 115 | #1,400 | 0.06 |
| 1993 | 128 | #1,312 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 142 | #1,225 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 156 | #1,137 | 0.08 |
| 1990 | 196 | #955 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 218 | #852 | 0.12 |
| 1988 | 250 | #752 | 0.14 |
| 1987 | 236 | #762 | 0.14 |
| 1986 | 273 | #672 | 0.16 |
| 1985 | 358 | #552 | 0.21 |
| 1984 | 406 | #493 | 0.24 |
| 1983 | 416 | #478 | 0.25 |
| 1982 | 451 | #466 | 0.27 |
| 1981 | 476 | #452 | 0.29 |
| 1980 | 530 | #416 | 0.32 |
| 1979 | 537 | #403 | 0.33 |
| 1978 | 517 | #398 | 0.34 |
| 1977 | 582 | #368 | 0.38 |
| 1976 | 676 | #332 | 0.46 |
| 1975 | 815 | #293 | 0.56 |
| 1974 | 838 | #286 | 0.57 |
| 1973 | 854 | #284 | 0.59 |
| 1972 | 972 | #271 | 0.64 |
| 1971 | 1,171 | #252 | 0.70 |
| 1970 | 1,542 | #208 | 0.88 |
| 1969 | 1,264 | #237 | 0.75 |
| 1968 | 1,019 | #266 | 0.62 |
| 1967 | 960 | #273 | 0.58 |
| 1966 | 843 | #303 | 0.50 |
| 1965 | 810 | #318 | 0.46 |
| 1964 | 908 | #306 | 0.48 |
| 1963 | 957 | #300 | 0.50 |
| 1962 | 906 | #309 | 0.46 |
| 1961 | 768 | #342 | 0.38 |
| 1960 | 739 | #355 | 0.37 |
| 1959 | 599 | #387 | 0.30 |
| 1958 | 516 | #408 | 0.26 |
| 1957 | 471 | #433 | 0.23 |
| 1956 | 503 | #403 | 0.25 |
| 1955 | 467 | #403 | 0.24 |
| 1954 | 427 | #420 | 0.22 |
| 1953 | 315 | #487 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 229 | #569 | 0.12 |
| 1951 | 224 | #570 | 0.12 |
| 1950 | 205 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1949 | 178 | #618 | 0.10 |
| 1948 | 172 | #630 | 0.10 |
| 1947 | 223 | #571 | 0.13 |
| 1946 | 123 | #728 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 127 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1944 | 112 | #711 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 84 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 88 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1941 | 79 | #812 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 73 | #835 | 0.06 |
| 1939 | 76 | #785 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 68 | #857 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 64 | #862 | 0.06 |
| 1936 | 65 | #840 | 0.06 |
| 1935 | 59 | #897 | 0.06 |
| 1934 | 49 | #985 | 0.05 |
| 1933 | 66 | #821 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 73 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1931 | 76 | #770 | 0.07 |
| 1930 | 78 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1929 | 71 | #843 | 0.06 |
| 1928 | 64 | #927 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 77 | #842 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 92 | #748 | 0.08 |
| 1925 | 91 | #774 | 0.07 |
| 1924 | 86 | #805 | 0.07 |
| 1923 | 86 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 83 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1921 | 97 | #743 | 0.08 |
| 1920 | 95 | #743 | 0.08 |
| 1919 | 104 | #685 | 0.09 |
| 1918 | 122 | #643 | 0.11 |
| 1917 | 94 | #713 | 0.09 |
| 1916 | 96 | #700 | 0.09 |
| 1915 | 113 | #615 | 0.11 |
| 1914 | 75 | #673 | 0.10 |
| 1913 | 62 | #660 | 0.10 |
| 1912 | 59 | #651 | 0.11 |
| 1911 | 48 | #618 | 0.11 |
| 1910 | 30 | #783 | 0.08 |
| 1909 | 31 | #720 | 0.09 |
| 1908 | 49 | #522 | 0.15 |
| 1907 | 38 | #603 | 0.12 |
| 1906 | 28 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1905 | 37 | #572 | 0.13 |
| 1904 | 39 | #530 | 0.14 |
| 1903 | 24 | #681 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 36 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1901 | 41 | #468 | 0.17 |
| 1900 | 53 | #463 | 0.18 |
| 1899 | 37 | #483 | 0.16 |
| 1898 | 48 | #443 | 0.19 |
| 1897 | 40 | #462 | 0.17 |
| 1896 | 50 | #405 | 0.21 |
| 1895 | 36 | #489 | 0.15 |
| 1894 | 63 | #350 | 0.28 |
| 1893 | 32 | #475 | 0.15 |
| 1892 | 45 | #398 | 0.21 |
| 1891 | 33 | #442 | 0.18 |
| 1890 | 31 | #470 | 0.16 |
| 1889 | 30 | #445 | 0.17 |
| 1888 | 38 | #396 | 0.21 |
| 1887 | 39 | #345 | 0.27 |
| 1886 | 32 | #378 | 0.22 |
| 1885 | 27 | #397 | 0.20 |
| 1884 | 24 | #410 | 0.19 |
| 1883 | 16 | #485 | 0.14 |
| 1882 | 13 | #515 | 0.12 |
| 1881 | 23 | #341 | 0.25 |
| 1880 | 13 | #474 | 0.14 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dena a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dena has been given almost only to girls: 56 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Dena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dena, and how old are they?
26,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 81% of the 32,535 Americans ever recorded as Dena. The median Dena alive today is 56 years old; half are between 47 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 25,907 people named Dena (25,841 women and girls, 66 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 27,153 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 443 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 7,280 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 12,900 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,990 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,110 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 459 |
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 Dena born?
The states with the most babies named Dena are California, Texas and New York, with 29% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 3,601 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Texas | 2,205 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 1,790 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 1,785 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 1,298 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 1,295 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,208 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Missouri | 909 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Florida | 832 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 792 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Dena is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dena is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 1.7 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 Dena 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 214,388 babies since 1880, Dena is the second most given (15% of them). In 2025 it was given to 30 of their 177 babies (17%), 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 Dena
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 Dena and names like it
- Compare Dena and DeannaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sDena peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dena since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Dena.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Dena alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.