Take an Italian heritage choice with impeccable literary and creative roots, add lots of different spelling options, and you’ll arrive at the baby name Dante.
Thanks to Melissa for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME DANTE MEAN?
Strictly speaking, Dante is a nickname.
It comes from the Latin durare – to last. That’s the same root as our words endurance and durable. Of course, it can also mean to harden or to be stubborn.
But if you’re choosing meanings, a word like endurance is preferable to, say, bull-headed.
Dante is the contracted form of Durante.
Other forms of the name include Duran, Durans, Durant, Durand, and Durante, often heard as surnames.
There’s a nineteenth century Italian priest known as Blessed Marco Antonio Durando. The NBA’s Kevin Durant is a famous bearer.
DANTE ALIGHIERI
And then there’s Durante Alighieri, born in thirteenth century Florence.
He wrote the Divine Comedy at mid-life. The epic poem isn’t just a literary masterwork. It’s considered the foundation of the Italian language as we know it today.
Dante‘s Inferno takes us through the nine circles of Hell. Purgatorio – purgatory – to Paradiso –paradise – completes the story. We meet ancient poet Virgil, as well as the author’s beloved Beatrice.
Authors like Chaucer and Milton referenced the Divine Comedy. Longfellow translated it into English. It’s inspired movies, music, and the visual arts for years.
There’s even a female Dante in literature – the devout governess in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. In this case, it’s a spin on the character’s heavily accented pronunciation of “Auntie,” not a given name.
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
Born Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, the nineteenth century poet and artist chose to be known as Dante professionally in homage to Alighieri. His father was born in Italy; so were his materinal grandparents, which explains his name.
In 1848, Rossetti and several other painters founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Influenced by nature and Romanticism, the Pre-Raphaelites didn’t last long as a formal group, but would prove broadly influential.
Sometimes Rossetti combined his poetry and his painting, as in A Sea-Spell, part of the Fogg Museum’s collection. (It’s part of the Harvard Art Museums.) Rossetti’s words appear on the hand-crafted frame, which displays his painting, making the entire piece an original work of art in more ways than one.
DONTAE, DAUNTE, and MORE
So there’s no question that the baby name Dante got its start with an author and remained familiar thanks to creative, literary, and artistic figures.
But Dante’s story change a little in the US.
The baby name peaked in the year 1997. It had followed vowel-ending choices like Andre into wider use.
Creative takes on Dante trended in the 1990s, too, including Dantae, Dontaye, Daunte, Donte, Dontae, and elaborations like Deontae.
Many of those spellings were likely given to African American boys, at least most of the time. The 1990s were the age of names like D’andre and D’angelo. Dante – or even D’ante – fit right in.
Does the pronunciation of Dante change with the spellings? Possibly.
Some of these may be attempts at a phonetic spelling: Daunte, for example, could emphasize a Dawn sound rather than a Dan in the first syllable.
Football’s Daunte Culpepper (born in 1977) and Donté Stallworth (born in 1980) were two men with names in the respelled-Dante club.
From Italian poet to sports to popular culture, the name has stayed in the spotlight. Most recently, Dante is the name of the loyal dog who accompanies Miguel through the afterlife in 2017’s Coco.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME DANTE?
The baby name Dante has ranked in the US Top 1000 more often than not.
As of 2023, it stands at #314, representing just over 1,000 births.
In addition:
- 73 boys were named Donte, plus another 42 called Dontae and 17 Dontays.
- Seven boys were named Daunte.
- And five were called Dantae.
As so often happens, the original name and spelling has staying power.
SHAPE-SHIFTING ITALIAN HERITAGE CHOICE
The baby name Dante has been falling in use since the late 1990s. And yet, remains a versatile, shape-shifting choice, perfect for a painter or a point guard.
It fits with current romance language favorites like Luca and Mateo. That rock solid meaning? It’s a bonus.
A historic choice that feels fresh and modern, Dante is a culture-spanning classic that is easy to wear.
What do you think of the baby name Dante?
First published on June 5, 2008, this post was revised on March 9, 2015 and November 25, 2024.
I love the name Dante!
My name is Donntay I spell it completly different from other forms of my name. At first I hated my name but now I thinks its really cool.
My Name Is Dante And I Am A Girl :O Im Black And Portugese . Im Not Sure How My Parents Decided On Dante But I Love It !
Sometimes I Feel Weird Having A Boy Name But Now Its Just Cool To Be The First Girl Named Dante To So Many Of My Friends (:
I’m an ex-pat in Italy and I need a cute-in-both-language-kinda-name and Dante’ fits the bill!
Our son was born a few days ago and my wife and I decided on Dante. In our opinion, Dante is a solid name with history as well as current popularity. We wanted a nice Italian name that would also fit in here in America. My wife and I are both American; however, my parents are from Italy.
Congratulations on your new son, mc! Dante is a great name.
You’re so right – I saw the movie right after I posted this. The delicious Dante who tempts Samantha … perhaps not the most PG inspiration for a baby’s name.
I wonder if the Ms. Dante you met was named after the character? Does she have a brother called Leopold Bloom? 😉
I’ve been thinking a lot about Dante too, ever since I met a woman named Dante!
He’s also the object of Samantha’s unrequited desire in the new Sex and the City movie, so screenwriters are onto him too. The character looks Latino, and I think you’re right about Dante’s cross-cultural appeal.
~Elisabeth