ninan.org

Daniel

Boys' name · Late 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~1,650,600 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#22 among boys
Births in 2025
8,093 1,991,091 since 1880
Typical age
40 years, median

Daniel popularity over time

Daniel rank by birth year, 1880–2025Daniel ranked #25 in 1880 and #22 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #5, in 1985.#10#22best #5 in 198518901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1985: 38,853 births recorded as Daniel. It is present from 1880, the first year of the record. Daniel has spent 146 years inside the national top 100.

The 2025 position is #22, on 8,093 births. Compared with 2015, births are down 40%.

Babies named Daniel per yearPeaks at 38,853 births in 1985.38,853 in 1985018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Daniel?

An estimated 1,650,600 living Americans are called Daniel. That is out of 1,991,091 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Daniel?

The typical living Daniel is 40 years old. More of them were born in the 1980s than in any other decade. By the site’s era rules that makes Daniel a late 20th-century perennial name.

Your Daniel

Ages of living people named DanielHalf of living Daniels are older than 40 and half younger.median 40020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Daniel is most common

The name is concentrated in District of Columbia, at 1.8× the national rate. New Mexico, Delaware and Alaska follow.

Where Daniel is used more than average5 states use the name Daniel more than the national average.Alaska: 1.6× the national rateAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: 1.6× the national rateNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: 1.6× the national rateDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: 1.7× the national rateNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 1.8× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Daniel is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
District of Columbia 328 1.8×
New Mexico 597 1.7×
Delaware 256 1.6×
Alaska 211 1.6×
Nevada 1,004 1.6×

Daniel in England and Wales

ONS recorded 804 births named Daniel in 2025, ranking it #62. That is 33% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Daniel comes from

From Middle English Daniel, Daniell, from Ancient Greek Δᾱνῑήλ, from Hebrew דָּנִיֵּאל, name borne from the prophet whose story is told in the Book of Daniel.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Daniel

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Daniel Defoe English trader, writer, and journalist 1660–1731 144
Daniel Radcliffe English actor and film producer 1989 112
Daniel Craig English actor 1968 105
Daniel Day-Lewis British actor 1957 101
Daniel Bernoulli Swiss mathematician and physicist 1700–1782 89
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit German-Polish physicist and engineer 1686–1736 83
Daniel Kahneman Israeli-American psychologist and economist 1934–2024 77
Daniel Dennett American philosopher 1942–2024 69
Photo credits (7)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 796 in 1911 to 1,530 in 1912 — 1.9 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/daniel.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).