Dakota

Primarily a girl's name · 100% girls

Meaning

Dakota is a unisex given name derived from the name of the Native American Dakota people. The name is translated to mean "friend", "friendly" or "allies" in the Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee dialects of the Dakota language.

From Wikipedia

Dakota first appears in the data in 2005 and has been recorded in 5 different years as a girl's name. Its single biggest year was 2016 with 272 babies (rank #91 that year). It was not in the 2025 data. The name has been declining over the last five years.

Numerology of Dakota

In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Dakota yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.

7Destiny numberThe seekerIntrospective, analytical, drawn to the unknown.Sum of every letter. The overall character a name carries.
8Soul urgeThe achieverDriven, capable, comfortable wielding influence.Sum of the vowels — what's said to drive the heart.
8PersonalityThe achieverDriven, capable, comfortable wielding influence.Sum of the consonants — the outer impression.

507

Total babies (all years)

Years in the data

272

Peak in a single year

Popularity Over Time — Girls

Famous people named Dakota

Dakota Fanningdub actor · b. 1994
Dakota Johnsonmodel · b. 1989
Dakota Blue Richardsfilm actor · b. 1994

Share your Dakota story

Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.

More popular girls' names

Other girls' names starting with D

Year-by-Year Detail

Rank is among all girls' names registered that year.

Year	Babies	Rank
2005	53	#108
2014	16	#119
2015	146	#110
2016	272	#91
2017	19	#118