Dakota
Dakota is a unisex name of Native American origin meaning “friendly one, ally.” It ranked #296 in the United States in 2025. From the Lakota/Dakota Sioux word meaning friend or ally.
how do you pronounce Dakota?
dah-KOH-tah
Hear it spoken aloud with our AI pronunciation tool.
what does Dakota mean?
The name Dakota means “friendly one, ally.” It comes from the Native American language tradition.
From the Lakota/Dakota Sioux word meaning friend or ally. It is the name of two U.S. states and became a popular given name in the 1990s.
where does the name Dakota come from?
Wikipedia derives Dakota from the name of the Native American Dakota people, translating it as friend, friendly, or allies in the Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee dialects of the Dakota language specifically, rather than the broader Lakota/Dakota Sioux framing given elsewhere.
how popular is this name?
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2025 | #296 |
| 2024 | #273 |
| 2023 | #262 |
| 2022 | #259 |
| 2021 | #270 |
| 2020 | #257 |
Source: SSA National Baby Names Dataset
what are the nicknames and variants of Dakota?
Nicknames
who are famous people named Dakota?
- Dakota Johnson
- Dakota Fanning
- Dakota Meyer
what names are similar to Dakota?
what names go well with Dakota?
Sibling names that share Dakota's rhythm and register without echoing it too closely.
Last reviewed April 30, 2026 · Curated by HushName editorial
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