Given name & surname · also Gaelic
Daniel
“God is my judge”
Daniel has the Hebrew meaning “God is my judge,” with biblical storytelling helping it become familiar across many languages.
Original Hebrewדניאל
Meaning & origin
What it means
Daniel means “God is my judge” in Hebrew.
Where it comes from
Daniel is a Hebrew biblical name used in Jewish naming traditions and in languages including English, French, German, Polish, and Czech.
How it developed
The name’s Hebrew meaning has remained closely tied to its biblical identity. In Ireland, Daniel has also served as an English-language substitute for Gaelic Domhnall, a separate historical use.
The story
The biblical Daniel is remembered for interpreting dreams and surviving the lions’ den. His story was a favourite subject of medieval miracle plays, giving the name a life in performance as well as scripture.
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Daniel appears in 1 Chronicles 3:1, 2 Samuel 3:3, Daniel 1:6 and 3 other passages.
- 1 Chronicles 3:1
- 2 Samuel 3:3
- Daniel 1:6
- Matthew 24:15
- Mark 13:14
- Ezra 8:2
From biblical name research
Daniel through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,991,091
- 1,982,812 boys · 8,279 girls
- Most popular year
- 1985
- 38,853 babies
- 2025
- 8,093
- #22 for boys · #11,166 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −23%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 8,085 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 22 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 23.1% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 38,559 in 1985. It also appeared in 8 birth records for girls in 2025. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (1,145). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,607,193 as a first name in 2020; 78,123 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Daniel’s family of names
In French usage, Daniel has a diminutive in Danny. Daniel has a feminine form in Danielle. In Danish usage, Daniel has a conventional equivalent in the Polish form Daniela.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Daniel has relatives in 59 languages. Lines run from its Hebrew roots to each of them.
Hebrewwhere Daniel comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 41
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Daniellavariant · English
- Dannydiminutive · English, French
- Danidiminutive · Spanish, Portuguese
- Danediminutive · German
- Danilovariant · Spanish, Portuguese
- Danshort form · Czech, English
- Danydiminutive · French, German
- Danyalvariant
Show 33 moreShow fewer
- Danniellikely variant
- Danialvariant · Malay
- Danyelvariant
- Danielevariant · Italian
- Danilvariant
- Danovariant · Slovak
- Dannediminutive · Swedish
- Dantrellvariant
- Dannelvariant
- Danellvariant
- Danekvariant · Czech
- Danealvariant
- Danalvariant
- Danijelvariant · Slovene, Croatian
- Danielsvariant · English, Latvian
- Danečekdiminutive · Czech
- Danièlevariant · French
- Dandandiminutive · ceb
- Daňovariant · Slovak
- Dannonickname · English
- Dankovariant
- Deniaudvariant
- Deniauvariant
- Danèsvariant
- Daneauvariant
- Danielekdiminutive · Polish
- Danielkodiminutive · Slovak
- Dadadiminutive · French
- Danihelvariant · Old English
- Danjellvariant · Albanian
- Amurritisch DA-AN-IL = Danilvariant · German
- Danousekpet form
- Danešpet form
Spellings & scripts 10
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
- Danisspelling
- Daniellspelling
- Danetspelling
- Даниелin another script · Bulgarian, Macedonian
- Դանիելin another script · Armenian
- Δανιέλin another script · Greek
- 丹尼爾romanization
- Dennelspelling
Show 2 moreShow fewer
Across languages 58
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- דניאלroot · Hebrew
- Danielafeminine form · Polish, Czech
- Daniellefeminine form · Tagalog, English
- Danafeminine form
- Dannieequivalent
- Danyloequivalent
- Daniilcognate
- Danilaizh
Show 50 moreShow fewer
- Danieequivalent
- DanielisLithuanian
- Daanequivalent
- Danylequivalent
- Danielson“son of” surname · English
- Zanielrelated form
- Dannonrelated form
- Tanielfeminine form
- KanielaHawaiian
- DenielBreton
- DanelBasque
- DaneelDutch
- Danieloequivalent
- ܕܢܝܐܝܠequivalent
- दानीएलequivalent
- Даниялequivalent
- Danielsen“son of” surname · Danish
- ДаниилRussian
- Taymanderivative · English
- Danesderivative · English
- Deiniolcognate · Welsh
- Δανιήλroot · Ancient Greek, Greek
- ΝτάνιελGreek
- DónallIrish
- ДанилоUkrainian
- Danniénrf
- TānioraMāori
- DaniëlAfrikaans, Dutch
- DánielHungarian
- დანიელიGeorgian
- DaníelIcelandic
- DánjalFaroese
- دانیالPersian
- DòmhnallScottish Gaelic
- TanelEstonian
- RānieraMāori
- Tanelicognate · Finnish
- DanieliusLithuanian
- ダニエルJapanese
- ДанілаBelarusian
- دانيالArabic
- ДаниїлUkrainian
- DanieliSwahili, Greenlandic
- 但以理cdo
- DanielluCorsican
- ড্যানিয়েলBengali
- DanjelMaltese
- 다니엘Korean
- დანიელGeorgian
- ΔανιηλAncient Greek
See also 11
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
- Donaldsee also
- Jadonshares a root
- Dinahshares a root
- Midianshares a root
- Madonshares a root
- Abidanshares a root
- Middinshares a root
- Medanshares a root
Show 3 moreShow fewer
People named Daniel
- Daniel DefoeEnglish trader, writer, and journalist (1660–1731)
- Daniel RadcliffeEnglish actor and film producer (born 1989)
- Daniel CraigEnglish actor (born 1968)
- Daniel Day-LewisBritish actorborn 1957
- Daniel BernoulliSwiss mathematician and physicist (1700-1782)
- Danny DeVitoAmerican actor, comedian, director and producer (born 1944)
- Dani AlvesBrazilian footballerborn 1983
- Daniel Gabriel FahrenheitGerman-Polish physicist and engineer (1686-1736)
- Daniel KahnemanIsraeli-American psychologist and economist (1934–2024)
Characters named Daniel: Daniel Jackson (the Stargate universe), Iron Fist (Marvel Comics), Daniel Faraday (the American mystery fiction television series Lost), Dan Dare (comics character).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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- Names to Grow Up With
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