boy's name
Dante
DAHN-tay
- Origin Italian
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 60,208
the United States
#308
2025 births
Dante means enduring, and it is a nickname that outlived its full form — the poet was christened Durante, and almost nobody has used that name since, while the short version became international. Our records carry it from 1908.
- Dante is a name of Italian origin.
- Peaked in 1998, when 1,694 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,003 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1908.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Dante over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 16 |
| 1910s | 496 |
| 1920s | 833 |
| 1930s | 334 |
| 1940s | 334 |
| 1950s | 534 |
| 1960s | 1,262 |
| 1970s | 2,975 |
| 1980s | 4,492 |
| 1990s | 10,145 |
| 2000s | 12,529 |
| 2010s | 11,593 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 6,510 |
What Dante means
Dante means enduring or steadfast. It shortens a longer Latin name built on a verb meaning to last, so the sense is persistence rather than strength.
Where Dante comes from
Dante is a medieval Italian short form of Durante, from the Latin durans — enduring, lasting, the root behind durable and duration. Dante Alighieri wrote the Commedia in Tuscan rather than Latin and in doing so effectively decided what modern Italian would be. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet, was named for him, and it is largely through the poet that the short form traveled beyond Italy at all.
Dante in use
Dante peaked in the United States in 1998, when 1,694 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now ranks 308th in the United States on 1,104 births, 463rd in England and Wales on 84, 484th in Ireland on 7, 556th in Scotland on 5 and 1348th in France on 30, across 60,208 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track.
How popular is Dante?
In 2025, Dante was given to 1,104 babies in the United States, ranking #308 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Dante is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Dante is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Danté | Danté is a rare spelling of Dante, written with an acute accent and recorded about 55 times, mostly in France. | 55 |
Names that peaked alongside Dante
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Dante also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Dante over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Dante
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Dante in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Dante
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Dante — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Dante
What does the name Dante mean?
Enduring — a short form of Durante, from the Latin durans.
Was the poet called Durante?
Yes. Dante was the everyday short form, and it is the one that survived.
Is durable related?
Yes — durable and duration come from the same Latin root.
How popular is Dante?
308th in the United States, and it charts in five of our six markets.
Is Dante a girl's or a boy's name?
Dante is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Dante?
Dante has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Dante?
Dante is usually shortened to Dan.
Is Dante a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Dante currently ranks #229 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.