Dakota - girl or boy?

[Ellein]

Is Dakota meant to be for a girl or a boy? If you were told that someone you know had just named their baby Dakota, what gender would you automatically assume the baby is?

To me it's a girls name, I know the cutest one ever.

but someone else had it on their boys list the other day, so I suppose it's going to be a split.

I'd think girl. Dakota Fanning, Dakota Johnson...

I would assume boy but it could pass for a girls name I suppose. I wouldn’t want to give a child a name that will leave them correcting their gender. My friends daughter is called Cameron. She is forever assumed a boy and mum can’t see why. She’s an adorable little girl that suits her name though.

Girl

I immediately think American state. I don't like it as a name for a person.

A girl (dog)

Good friends of ours just named their baby Dakota. I (foolishly) assumed that the baby was a girl when I heard the name, but he's actually a boy.

A colleague of mine has a son called Dakota who is about 30. Apparently when he started school, he was one of 3 Dakota’s in his class, 2 being boys and one being a girl. My colleague is American so I’m guessing it was a reasonably popular unisex name there 30 ish years ago.

It's unisex in reality. It sounds better on a boy, though. It just looks and sounds masculine to me (even with the "a" ending).

Boy

Girls name

I've only heard it as a girls name.

Place.

I would assume boy but am not keen on it for either gender. It doesn't feel adequate or substantial enough to be a name for a person.

The only Dakota I've met (at a playgroup, in the UK) is a boy.

Girl

I wouldn't think 'Boy or Girl?', I'd think 'North or South?'

In reality, I know one, a 30 year old man.

Boy

I would assume girl

Boy

I’d think girl…but to my ears, names ending in an ‘a’ sound feel more feminine so perhaps this is why. Cute name 🥰

I would assume its a girls name. I really like it for a girl

Girl

I would think girl

Neither. It’s a State.