I originally planned on naming my boy Dakota Lee, but my nephew had a baby boy two years ago and named him that.. Now I can not find a boys name. I like Dakota… but have thought about Dacoda.. since I want to use the shortened form Cody…

Well then, go ahead. There’s nothing like going through life with everyone thinking your parents are totally illiterate yuppies who think owning Dances with Wolves on DVD makes them in touch with Native Americans, until one day your kids snaps and runs over your latte drinkin’ , People magazine readin’ ass with your own SUV. Or you could just name him “Cody” like you want to and save yourself from having to explain to the school principal how Cody happened to obtain the .45 that was found in his backpack.

Then, the Indians finally get sick of Daktoa:

DAKOTA, LAKOTA, etc. I am an actual Indian, Oglala Lakota. I live in North Dakota. Stop with the so called “american indian” names, will ya? Dakota does not mean “friend”, that’s just what white folks think.
I saw someone here post something to the effect of “my wife is one-eighth Sioux, so we named our son ‘Lakota’, which means ‘good earth’ in American Indian. Spot all the errors in that sentence.
*If* someone is actually Siouan, they would identify themselves as Oglala, Hunkpapa, Sicangu, Nakota, Dakota, Lakota, etc., not “sioux”. If the name is a word from the Lakota language, it is not “american indian”. There is NO “american indian” language.
How many of you would think ‘Pahli’, ‘Sicamna’, or ‘Sica’ were pretty and unusual “american indian” names? Know what they mean? Mucous, Stink, and Ugly.
Do what you must, but leave the Dakota and Lakota Nations out of it, along with all other American Indian Nations. Find some other culture to co-opt.