How to say it
DAH · lia
/ˈdɑl.jə/
Feminine
Dahlia
Dahlia flower
What it means
English name of the showy garden flower, named for the 18th-century Swedish botanist Anders Dahl. Mexico's national flower. The 'Black Dahlia' nickname for the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short remains the name's most-discussed cultural anchor.
Dahlia is the English name of the showy garden flower, named in 1791 for Anders Dahl, an 18th-century Swedish botanist and student of Linnaeus. The plant is native to Mexico and Central America (Mexico declared it the national flower in 1963). As a given name Dahlia picked up in the late 19th-century US alongside other flower names. The 'Black Dahlia' nickname for Elizabeth Short (the unsolved 1947 Los Angeles murder victim) lingers as the strongest English-language cultural reference; James Ellroy's novel and the 2006 Brian De Palma film kept it in circulation. The English Dahlia has been climbing in the US since 2010. Common short: Dahl, rarely.
Popularity over time
peaked at #215 in 2025, currently #215 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pop culture
The Black Dahlia (1947 Los Angeles murder of Elizabeth Short) is the unavoidable cultural weight; some families don't know the reference, others find it heavy.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Anders Dahl 18th-century Swedish botanist, namesake of the flower (Dahl as surname)
Spelling variants
- Dalia
- Dalya
Names with the same feeling
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