| The boy name Dakota [ 3 syll. da-ko-ta, dak-ota ] is sometimes used as a girl name. Its pronunciation is DahKOWTah KEY. Dakota is used chiefly in the English language and its origin is Dakota. Developed literally from the element 'dakota' which means friend, ally. The given name is derived from the name of the Native American people also known as the Sioux. The given name has been used among English speakers only since the 20th century. Dakotah (English variant spelling) is a form of Dakota. Dakota is popular as a baby name for boys. The name's popularity jumped from the 1980s up to the 1990s; before that, it was of very modest use only. Its usage peaked in 1995 with 0.327% of baby boys being given the name Dakota. It ranked at #56 then. The baby name has since experienced a loss in popularity. In 2007, its usage was 0.088% and its ranking #203, but it was nonetheless the most frequently used among all boy names in its group. Dakota has in the past century been mostly given to boys. In 2006, the name Dakota was given to 22% more boys than girls. Baby names that sound like Dakota include the name Dakotah (English) and the name Dusty (English). KEY: Pronunciation for Dakota: D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)" ; OW as in "oat (OW.T)" ; T as in "tea (T.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"
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