Dao
UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Dao has been given to 282 babies in the U.S. since 1981. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1983, with 16 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 69% boys, 31% girls all-time.
Babies named Dao, 2018
1 in 703,000
Dao over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Dao over time
In 2018, Dao went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Dao?
Dao had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 2018
- 1 in 703,000
- 5 of 3,516,853 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 363,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2018
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 487,541 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Dao sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2018 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 487,541 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dao. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Daos were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Dao was born before 1990 — so the typical Dao is around 35 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1980s
- 49.5% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 28.4%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 194
- People you could plausibly meet
1980s — 49.5% of all recorded uses (96).
Is Dao 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
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1983 (16)
- Years since peak
- 42
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 48.3% average annual change
Where Dao is used — boys
Across 1910–2025, Dao was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 512,727 across all states with data.
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Dao has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Where Dao is used — girls
Across 1910–2025, Dao was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,601,278 across all states with data.
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
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. Dao has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Dao around the world
Where Dao 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.
- France1984–2025#4,933in 2025
- South Australia2006–2006#657in 2006
Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Dao by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Dao
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Dao
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.