Dane

What Dane means

Variant of Dean, meaning “valley”

variant of Dean || The surname or given name is of multiple origins, depending on context: As an English surname, from Middle English dene (“valley”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Dane” (revision 94538655) and “Dean” (revision 94538712), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Dane?

US: Falling: down from #630 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1511 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1986, when 1,069 boys got the name (#221 that year). First in the US records in 1898.

How common

• About 1 in 5,675 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 30,215 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in HI (1.71 per 1,000 boys), ID (0.81 per 1,000 boys), NM (0.77 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Dane is #819 in the US and #2440 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Dane were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the UK pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Dan78 US · 26 E&W
• Don89 US · 9 E&W
• Dayne19 US
• Dune15 US
• Dain14 US
• Taine0 US · 6 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Dane

Boys

• Brock#810Variant of Brook, meaning “swamp, marsh”^*
• Blake#316“black”^*
• Skyler#783Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #360 in 2015, #783 in 2025
• Devin#548“fortuneteller”^*
• Tyler#219“tiler”^*
• Blaine#991Editor’s note Down from #650 in 2015 to #991 in 2025 in the US

For a sister

• Brooke#313Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1996, with 6,724 babies; 972 in 2025
• Leslie#712“garden of hollies”^*
• Kimberly#302Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #108 in 2015, #302 in 2025
• Paige#346possibly “servant”^*
• Mallory#372“unhappy, unlucky”^*
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Dane’s. Rank is US 2025.