Boy · Hebrew
Daniel
Say it: DAN-yul
Meaning
Hebrew Daniyyel, 'God is my judge'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Used in the medieval Christian East and widespread in the West since the Reformation.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1980s
In the United States
- 1,947,282 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1985, about 1 in 48 boys
- 9,435 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
HebrewEarly ChristianEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishRussianHungarianWelshIrish
The family of the name
Other spellings: Danial
| French | Daniel |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Daniel |
| Italian | Daniele |
| Portuguese | Daniel |
| German | Daniel |
| Polish | Daniel |
| Russian | Daniil |
| Hungarian | Dániel |
Famous bearers
- Daniel, prophet of the Book of Daniel
- Daniel Defoe, English novelist
- Daniel Boone, American frontiersman
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.