Name Awesome

Danae

#2,417 in 2025Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Danae has been given to 7,449 babies in the U.S. since 1947. In 2025 it ranked #2,417 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2001, with 212 recorded.

Babies named Danae, 2025

1 in 44,800

Danae over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Danae: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Danae means

Danae is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Danae is used in English.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Danae is pronounced /ˈdænə.iː/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,443 girls were recorded with the name Danae between 1947 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 212 in 2001; its best national rank was #911 in 1991.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,873 in 2020 to #2,417 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,198 in 2015 to #2,417 in 2025.

In the United States, 6 boys were recorded with the name Danae between 1990 and 1990. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1990; its best national rank was #7,357 in 1990.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Danae?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 44,800
74 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 21,700
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,417
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
31,054 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Danae sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 31,054 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Danae. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Danaes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Danae was born before 1998 — so the typical Danae is around 27 today.

Median birth year
1998
About 27 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
24.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
44.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
7,427
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 24.4% of all recorded uses (1,815).

Is Danae rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,073
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−544
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−219
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.86×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
34.9%
Peak was 2001 (212)
Years since peak
24
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#911
1991

Spellings of Danae

Danae is not the most common spelling — Diane is, with 19.7% against Danae's 0.28%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Danae is used

Across 2016–2025, Danae was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 8,333 girls, against 1 in 16,551 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

112 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 8,333
  2. 2California1 in 11,111
  3. 3Arizona1 in 12,500
  4. 4Illinois1 in 14,286
  5. 5New York1 in 14,286
  6. 6Colorado1 in 20,000
  7. 7Florida1 in 25,000
  8. 8New Jersey1 in 25,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Danae around the world

Where Danae ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2023
    #4,057
    in 2023
  • Scotland
    2002–2002
    #640
    in 2002
  • France
    1972–2025
    #963
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,854
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1957–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Danae

People whose public names include Danae, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Danae by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,417
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 544
Best rank ever
#911
1991
Peak year
2001
212 that year
First recorded
1947
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,443
Count in 2025
74

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,357
1990
Peak year
1990
6 that year
First recorded
1990
Last recorded
1990
All-time count
6
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Danae

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DaniaDannaeDanyaDanielDanniDaniDanikaDannaDannyDanicaDanetteRenaeDannieDanahDanitaJenaeJanaeLanaeDanieleDaniyaDenaeDanayDaneenMonae

Names with a curve like Danae

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Danae, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

FlorIlanaMarcelaErynDesireStormyAmberlySarinaAnnalisaStefanyShiraShea

Sibling names for Danae

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Danae

Top names of 2001, Danae's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1991Girls' names starting with D