Danel
Combination of Dana meaning "small" and El meaning "God" in Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 417 living Americans carry the first name Danel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Danel today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danel births was 1969 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
417
~ 1 in 821,953 Americans
Peak year
1969
19 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2020 SSA rank
#10,895
Tracked since 1920
Gender
Gender distribution for Danel
Danel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 488 total registrations, 341 (69.9%) were male and 147 (30.1%) were female.
Danel as a male name
- Ranked #10,895 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1957 (10 births)
Danel as a female name
- Ranked #13,779 in 1992
- 5 female births in 1992
- Peak: 1970 (13 births)
Popularity
Danel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danel from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 133 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Danel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Danel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danel
The given name Danel has its roots in the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East, particularly in the Canaanite and Phoenician cultures of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE). It is derived from the Semitic root "dn" or "dyn," which is associated with words meaning "to judge" or "to govern." This suggests that the name may have originally been given to individuals with authority or leadership roles within their communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Danel can be found in the Epic of Aqhat, an ancient Ugaritic narrative poem discovered in the ruins of the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit. In this epic, Danel is a prominent figure, described as a legendary hero and warrior. The text dates back to around the 14th century BCE, providing evidence of the name's usage during this period.
In the Bible, the name Danel is mentioned in the Book of Ezra, where it is listed as the name of one of the Israelites who returned from the Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem in the 5th century BCE. This biblical reference further attests to the antiquity and persistence of the name within the Semitic cultural sphere.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Danel. One example is Danel, a 7th-century prince of the Khazars, a Turkic semi-nomadic people who ruled over a vast territory in modern-day southern Russia and northwestern Kazakhstan. Another is Danel, a 12th-century poet and scholar from the town of Beziers in southern France, who is known for his contributions to the Occitan literary tradition.
In the realm of religion, Danel was the name of a 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet from Persia, renowned for his spiritual teachings and poetic works. Additionally, Danel Chetwynd (1973-2006) was a British author and journalist known for his books on occult and esoteric subjects.
Lastly, in the field of art, Danel Sorano (1909-1994) was a Mexican painter and muralist, recognized for his vibrant depictions of rural life and indigenous cultures in his homeland.
These examples, spanning various cultures, time periods, and disciplines, attest to the enduring presence and diverse applications of the ancient name Danel throughout human history.
People
Danel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Danel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 417 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 821,953 US residents.
Is Danel a common name?
We classify Danel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 488 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danel most popular?
The single biggest year for Danel was 1969, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danel is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Danel a male name?
Yes, 69.9% of people registered as Danel in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.