Dada

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Nanne in NL Netherlands, US United States, SE Sweden and 5 more, Dad in GB United Kingdom, MY Malaysia, AF Afghanistan and 1 more, Dadi in TZ Tanzania, ES Spain, DZ Algeria and Dadu in PK Pakistan.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Dada is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name84K records spelled Dada18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Nigeria, India, United States, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Dadà, Da-Da, Dadá, Dādā, Dädä

• Arabic given name11K records spelled Dada4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Nigeria, India, Egypt, Morocco

  Also written Da'Da, D'Ada, Dàdà

• Portuguese given name9.6K records spelled Dada11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Nigeria, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Dadá, Dadà, Dädä, Dådå, Dàdà

• a separate given name7.7K records spelled Dada8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Pakistan, United States, Nigeria

  Also written Dáda, Dadà, D̤ād̤ā, Dädä, Dādā

• Indonesian given name3.5K records spelled Dada4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Nigeria, India, Indonesia, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Dàdà, Dąda

• Amharic given name3.1K records spelled Dada5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Nigeria, India, United States, Ethiopia

  Also written Dede, ዳዳ, ደደ, Dedë

67 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Dada is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• variant of Daddow . 2 Iranian, Muslim: from a personal name based on Persian dāda ‘given’ (i.e. ‘gift of God’). 3 Muslim, Indian: Hindu and Muslim, meaning ‘elder brother’ in Bengali, Sindhi, Marathi, and other Indian languages, and ‘(paternal) grandfather’ in Hindi and Urdu; also used as an honorific.

  as a name·The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland

• In English, Father, dad.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Child with curly hair

  as a name·The book of African names

• A child with curly hair

  as a name·The book of African names

• In English, artistic movement

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 76 years between 1918–2015. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Dada Masilob. 1985ZASouth African dancer and choreographer (1985–2024)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 222 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Dada?

We estimate roughly 20 thousand people bear Dada (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Dada have the most bearers?

Dada is most frequently recorded in Pakistan, where it is most often spelled dadu.

Is Dada a male or female name?

Dada is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Dada mean?

Recorded meaning: Swahili/Yoruba: sister; a female name for a child with curly hair; also a West African nature deity.