Daniel
Masculine · “God is my judge”
Daniel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,982,812 boys against 8,279 girls since 1880. See Daniel as a girl name
Two ordinary English phrases come straight out of one short book of the Bible. The writing on the wall is from Daniel, chapter five, where a hand appears at a feast and writes four words nobody can read. Feet of clay is from chapter two, a statue of gold and iron standing on feet that will not hold it.
How old is the name Daniel?
Daniel was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Daniel alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 1,643,000 people named Daniel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Daniel most popular?
Daniel peaked in 1985, reaching #5 nationally. Today it ranks #22, 17 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Where it comes from
From Daniyyel to Daniel
The story of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is stranger than its reputation. It changes language partway through: it opens in Hebrew, switches to Aramaic in the middle of a sentence in chapter two, runs in Aramaic for six chapters, and switches back. Nobody has fully explained why. The stories in the Aramaic half are the famous ones — the fiery furnace, the lions' den, the feast where a disembodied hand writes on the plaster — and they are told as court tales, about a man who serves foreign kings without ever quite belonging to them. The name went into Greek and Latin unchanged, into every European language after that, and into English in the ordinary way, so completely that it now sounds like it has no origin at all.
Meaning
God is my judge
Hebrew Daniyyel: din, to judge, with el, God. It is a sentence rather than a description — the kind of name Hebrew builds constantly, where the child's name is a short statement about God. Michael, who is like God, and Samuel, God has heard, are made the same way.
Cultural footprint
Daniel Radcliffe (b. 1989) — Harry Potter himself
Daniel Craig (b. 1968) — James Bond of the Casino Royale era
Daniel Day-Lewis (b. 1957) — The only three-time Best Actor Oscar winner
Daniel Defoe (b. 1660) — Wrote Robinson Crusoe
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Daniyyel
- Danielus
- Daniel
Related forms: Daniyyel · Daniil · Daniele · Daniel · Danyal · Deiniol
Pronouncing Daniel
DAN-yul
Two or three syllables depending on how carefully it is said, stress on the first. Spanish and Portuguese put it on the last, dah-nee-EL, and Russian Daniil has three clear vowels. The Hebrew is dah-nee-YEL.
Nicknames for Daniel
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 198436,531 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #5reached in 1985
- Change vs 2022
- −11.4%8,085 in 2025, from 9,121
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.
Daniel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Daniyyel in Hebrew — same name
- Daniil in Russian — same name
- Daniele in Italian — same name
- Daniel in Portuguese — same name
- Danyal in Arabic — transliteration
- Deiniol in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, National Records of Scotland, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Daniels among us
people named Daniel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 211 born in 2025 was named Daniel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Joseph test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Daniel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joseph climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joseph's path sketches the road Daniel is walking now.
Daniel has held the top-100 across 15 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Daniel is headed
Daniel should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Daniel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Daniel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled identically in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish.
- A settled meaning that is a complete sentence rather than an adjective.
- Four short forms covering formal, warm, childhood and adult use.
- Continuous use for more than two thousand years with no gap in the record.
- It is one of the most given names in the English-speaking world, and has been for decades.
- Dan is what most people will arrive at, so it is worth liking the short form as much as the long one.
- The very few girls given this exact spelling will be read as boys on every form.
- It is so familiar that it carries no signal at all — which is the point for some families and the objection for others.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Daniel to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Daniel
Masculine · #22 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Daniels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,643,000 people named Daniel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Daniel in 2025?
- Daniel ranks #22 among US boy names in 2025, with 8,085 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Daniel?
- About 1 in every 211 US boys born in 2025 was named Daniel — 8,085 in all.
- Will my child share the name Daniel with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 8 classrooms will have a child named Daniel.
Ranked beside Daniel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Michael#21 · John#23 · Ezra#20 · Ethan#24 · Julian#25 · Leo#19 · Santiago#26 · Samuel#18
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Daniel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Daniel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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