Dakota

Dakota is the name of a Native American people and language, commonly explained through the idea of allies or friends. It is also familiar from North Dakota and South Dakota. Its use as a personal name does not erase those living cultural and geographical connections.

Actress Dakota Fanning provides one recognizable bearer. Dakota is used for boys and girls, with the same spelling in either case. A family may be drawn to a place connection, a personal history, or the sound, but it is more accurate to identify the Dakota origin than to describe the name only as generically Native American.