Dani
Dani is a diminutive of Daniel, a Hebrew name meaning "God is my judge".
Name Census estimates that about 10,455 living Americans carry the first name Dani. It is a predominantly female name (90.4% of registrations). The average person named Dani today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dani births was 2022 (461 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dani. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Dani with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
10K
~ 1 in 32,784 Americans
Peak year
2022
461 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#680
Tracked since 1942
Census
Dani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,721 people with the first name Dani, which placed it at #2,231 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,231
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,721 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dani is White at 68.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.3%) and Black (4.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Dani described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Dani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.4% · 8,016
- Hispanic or Latino18.3% · 2,143
- Black or African American4.7% · 548
- Two or more races4.3% · 508
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 372
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 134
Gender
Gender distribution for Dani
Dani leans heavily female at 90.4% of total registrations, but 1,060 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dani as a male name
- Ranked #3,222 in 2024
- 37 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (37 births)
Dani as a female name
- Ranked #680 in 2024
- 418 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (431 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dani leans strongly female. 9,613 people counted with this name were female (82.0%), compared with 2,111 male bearers (18.0%).
Popularity
Dani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dani from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,701 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dani remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dani 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 Dani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Dani, while New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 155 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dani
The name Dani has its origins in ancient Hebrew, derived from the biblical name Daniel, which means "God is my judge" or "God has judged me." It first appeared in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, where Daniel was a Jewish prophet who lived in Babylon during the 6th century BC.
The name Daniel gained widespread popularity across Europe and the Middle East, with various spellings and diminutive forms emerging over time. One of these diminutive forms, Dani, became particularly common in several cultures and languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Hungarian.
In Spain and Portugal, the name Dani is often considered a shortened form of the Spanish name Daniel or the feminine name Daniela. It has been in use since at least the Middle Ages and was borne by several notable individuals throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Dani can be found in the 12th century with Dani ibn Maymun, a Spanish-born Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived from 1135 to 1204 AD. He was known for his influential works on Jewish theology and philosophy.
In the 16th century, Dani Vukovich was a Croatian military commander who fought against the Ottoman Empire. He played a crucial role in the defense of the Croatian territory and is remembered as a national hero.
In the 19th century, Dani Alighieri was an Italian poet and scholar who lived from 1809 to 1887. He was known for his translations and commentaries on the works of the renowned Italian poet Dante Alighieri.
In the 20th century, Dani Karavan was an Israeli sculptor and environmental artist who lived from 1930 to 2021. He was renowned for his site-specific installations and sculptures that integrated with the natural landscape.
Another notable bearer of the name Dani was Dani Naprusková, a Czech singer and actress who lived from 1948 to 2022. She was a popular figure in the Czech entertainment industry and received several awards for her contributions to music and film.
While the name Dani has ancient roots, it has maintained its relevance and popularity across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its enduring appeal and versatility.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dani
People
Dani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dani 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
Dani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,455 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dani 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 32,784 US residents.
Is Dani a common name?
We classify Dani as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,030 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dani most popular?
The single biggest year for Dani was 2022, when 461 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dani is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,721 people with the name Dani, or 3.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,231 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Dani in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Dani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dani leans strongly female. 9,613 people counted with this name were female (82.0%), compared with 2,111 male bearers (18.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Dani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dani is White at 68.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.3%) and Black (4.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Dani most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.4% (8,016 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Dani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dani a female name?
Yes, 90.4% of people registered as Dani in the SSA data are female. 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.
Is Dani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dani in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Dani can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people share the name Dani?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.