Danil
A masculine Russian name meaning "God is my judge".
Name Census estimates that about 260 living Americans carry the first name Danil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Danil today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danil births was 2018 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danil. 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 Danil with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
260
~ 1 in 1,318,286 Americans
Peak year
2018
14 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,151
Tracked since 1923
Census
Danil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 937 people with the first name Danil, which placed it at #13,042 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
#13,042
National first-name rank
People counted
937
937 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danil is White at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.2%). 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 Danil 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 Danil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.0% · 684
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 131
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.2% · 49
- Black or African American4.1% · 38
- Two or more races2.8% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 9
Popularity
Danil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danil from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 97 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Danil remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Danil 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 Danil 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 Danil
The name Danil has its roots in the Russian language and culture. It is a diminutive form of the name Daniel, which in turn derives from the Hebrew name Daniyyel, meaning "God is my judge." The name Danil gained popularity in Russia during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Danil can be found in the 12th century Russian epic, The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The epic mentions a character named Danil Vachovich, a nobleman from the city of Kursk. This suggests that the name was in use among the Russian nobility during this period.
In the 16th century, Danil Adashev served as a prominent adviser to Ivan the Terrible, the first Tsar of Russia. Adashev played a significant role in the modernization of the Russian state and is considered one of the most influential figures of his time.
During the 17th century, Danil Vinius, a Dutch merchant and diplomat, served as the ambassador of the Dutch Republic to Russia. He was instrumental in fostering trade relations between the two countries and played a crucial role in the Westernization efforts of Peter the Great.
In the field of literature, Danil Kharms, born in 1905, was a prominent avant-garde writer and poet. He was associated with the Oberiu literary group and is known for his absurdist and experimental works. Kharms' writings were suppressed during the Soviet era, but he is now recognized as a significant figure in Russian literature.
Another notable figure was Danil Shitikov, a Soviet military officer who served during World War II. Shitikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his bravery and leadership in the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the most pivotal battles of the war.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Danil, demonstrating its enduring presence in Russian culture and history over the centuries.
People
Danil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danil 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
Danil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 260 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danil 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 1,318,286 US residents.
Is Danil a common name?
We classify Danil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danil most popular?
The single biggest year for Danil was 2018, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danil is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 937 people with the name Danil, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,042 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 Danil 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 Danil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danil leans strongly male. 910 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 24 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Danil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danil is White at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.2%). 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 Danil most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Danil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.0% (684 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 Danil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danil a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Danil 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.
Is Danil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danil 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 Danil 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 are named Danil?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.