Dani
Feminine · “God is my judge”
Dani is given to both — 10,339 girls and 1,085 boys since 1880. See Dani as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Two syllables, one clear beat, and almost nobody mishears it: Dani is the kind of name that fits on a name tag and survives a shout across a playground. It reaches English through Danielle and Daniela, and back beyond them to the Hebrew Daniel — a name written down for well over two thousand years. In Spain it has been the ordinary, affectionate way to say Daniel for as long as anyone has kept track.
How old is the name Dani?
Dani first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Dani alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 10,000 people named Dani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dani most popular?
Dani peaked in 2022, reaching #674 nationally. Today it ranks #746, 72 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Daniyyel to Dani
The story of Dani
The root is the Hebrew Daniyyel, "God is my judge", borne by the prophet of the Book of Daniel — the one in the lions' den. Daniel traveled through Greek and Latin scripture into every language of Christian Europe, and French supplied the feminine Danielle, with Italian, Spanish and German using Daniela. Dani is the clipped everyday form of all of them, and in Spanish and Hebrew it does the same job for boys named Daniel. That double road is worth knowing: the same four letters arrive at girls through Danielle and Daniela, and at boys through Daniel himself.
Meaning
God is my judge
Dani is a short form rather than a name coined on its own, so it carries the meaning of the Hebrew Daniyyel (Daniel) behind it, usually by way of Danielle or Daniela.
How the name formed
- Daniyyel
- Daniel
- Danielle
- Daniela
- Dani
Related forms: Danielle · Daniela · Daniela · Danijela · דני (Dani) · Dana
Pronouncing Dani
DAN-ee
Rhymes with Annie. Spanish and Catalan speakers stress the second syllable instead — dah-NEE — which is worth expecting in bilingual households.
Nicknames for Dani
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 2022432 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #674reached in 2022
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%364 in 2025, from 364
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Danielle in French — related form
- Daniela in Spanish — related form
- Daniela in Italian — related form
- Danijela in Serbian and Croatian — related form
- דני (Dani) in Hebrew — transliteration
- Dana in Czech — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Georgia.
Danis among us
people named Dani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,416 born in 2025 was named Dani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Dani
- #746
- Dani on the 2025 chart
- #563
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Dani went to 364 girls in 2025, but Danni and Danny are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 434, which makes it the 563rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 183 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 3,703 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,416 for Dani itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Tomasa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tomasa climbed just as high around 1913, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tomasa's path sketches the road Dani is walking now.
Dani sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Dani is headed
Dani should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Dani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, phonetic and hard to mispronounce in English; a stranger reading it aloud will get it right the first time.
- Pairs with a longer legal name — Danielle or Daniela — if you want a formal option in reserve, or works perfectly well on its own.
- Recognized across Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, French and the Slavic languages, which few short names can claim.
- Sits on a line that has been in continuous written use since antiquity, so it never reads as newly invented.
- Danni, Dannie and Dannee all exist, so expect to spell it out fairly often even though people hear it correctly.
- In Spanish and Hebrew, Dani is first of all the everyday short form of Daniel and reads as a boy's name. Around bilingual family or classmates, a girl named Dani may meet that assumption now and then.
- It is a diminutive by origin, and some people treat diminutives as informal on résumés and legal papers. Having Danielle or Daniela on the birth certificate keeps both doors open.
- Uncommon enough that a Dani will usually be the only one in her grade — pleasant for most children, occasionally tiring for one who would rather not be asked about it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Dani to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Dani
Feminine · #746 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Danis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,000 people named Dani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Dani?
- Dani is the most-used spelling in US records — 364 of the 434 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Danni and Danny.
- How popular is the name Dani in 2025?
- Dani ranks #746 among US girl names in 2025, with 364 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dani?
- About 1 in every 4,416 US girls born in 2025 was named Dani — 364 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dani with classmates?
- Dani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mikayla#746 · Araceli#746 · Maisy#745 · Karina#749 · Kiana#743 · Davina#749 · Valery#743 · Kensley#741
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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