Daniil
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge".
Name Census estimates that about 341 living Americans carry the first name Daniil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Daniil today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Daniil births was 2016 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Daniil. 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
341
~ 1 in 1,005,145 Americans
Peak year
2016
31 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,721
Tracked since 2003
Popularity
Daniil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Daniil from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 198 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Daniil remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Daniil 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 Daniil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Daniils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Florida, California, New York recorded the most babies named Daniil, while New York, California, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Daniil
The name Daniil has its origins in the Hebrew name Daniel, which means "God is my judge" or "God has judged." The name is derived from the Hebrew words "din" meaning "to judge," and "el" meaning "God." It first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible, where Daniel was a Hebrew prophet who lived in Babylon during the 6th century BC.
The name Daniil is the Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian form of the name Daniel. It was brought to the Slavic lands through the influence of the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church, which used the Greek form of the name, "Daniil," in its Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Daniil in Slavic history is Prince Daniil Romanovich of Galicia, who ruled in the 13th century. Another notable figure was Daniil Zatochnik, a 13th-century Russian monk and writer who authored the "Instruction" or "Moralizing Tale," which is considered one of the earliest examples of Russian literature.
In the 16th century, Daniil Princes'ky was a prominent Ukrainian writer and translator who helped spread the use of the Ukrainian language in religious texts. In the 18th century, Daniil Tuptalo was a Ukrainian Orthodox saint and Metropolitan of Rostov, known for his writings on the lives of saints.
Other notable historical figures with the name Daniil include:
1. Daniil Kharms (1905-1942), a Russian writer and poet associated with the avant-garde movement in the 1920s and 1930s.
2. Daniil Andreyev (1906-1959), a Russian religious philosopher and writer who developed the concept of the "Rose of the World" cosmology.
3. Daniil Shafran (1923-1997), a Russian cellist and music pedagogue, considered one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century.
4. Daniil Kvyat (born 1994), a Russian racing driver who has competed in Formula One.
5. Daniil Medvedev (born 1996), a Russian professional tennis player and former world No. 1.
The name Daniil has a rich history and has been borne by many notable figures throughout the centuries, particularly in the Slavic regions where it has been popular.
People
Daniil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Daniil 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
Daniil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Daniil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 341 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Daniil 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 1,005,145 US residents.
Is Daniil a common name?
We classify Daniil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 344 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Daniil most popular?
The single biggest year for Daniil was 2016, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Daniil is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Daniil a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Daniil 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.