Dannell
Of English origin, a variation of the masculine name Daniel, meaning "God is my judge".
Name Census estimates that about 339 living Americans carry the first name Dannell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Dannell today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dannell births was 1973 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dannell. 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
339
~ 1 in 1,011,075 Americans
Peak year
1973
25 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2008 SSA rank
#12,932
Tracked since 1955
Census
Dannell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 378 people with the first name Dannell, which placed it at #25,170 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
#25,170
National first-name rank
People counted
378
378 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dannell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dannell is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Black (35.4%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Dannell 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 Dannell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.6% · 180
- Black or African American35.4% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 30
- Two or more races5.6% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Dannell
Dannell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 376 total registrations, 142 (37.8%) were male and 234 (62.2%) were female.
Dannell as a male name
- Ranked #12,932 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1973 (9 births)
Dannell as a female name
- Ranked #13,469 in 1990
- 5 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1973 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dannell on both sides of the split. Of the 384 people counted with this name, 139 were male (36.2%) and 245 were female (63.8%).
Popularity
Dannell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dannell from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 191 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
Dannell 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 Dannell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dannells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dannell
The name Dannell has its origins in the Old English language, with roots tracing back to the 7th century. It is derived from the Proto-Germanic words "dan" and "hild," which together mean "brave warrior." The name was popular among the Anglo-Saxon tribes of what is now England, particularly in the regions of Wessex and Mercia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dannell can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record compiled in the late 9th century. The chronicle mentions a nobleman named Dannell ealdorman, who served as a military commander during the reign of King Alfred the Great (849-899).
In the Middle Ages, the name Dannell gained association with religious figures. Saint Dannell of Brittany (c. 1050-1124) was a Benedictine monk and abbot who founded several monasteries in northwestern France. His life and miracles were recorded in the "Vita Sancti Dannelli," a hagiography written by a contemporary monk.
During the Renaissance, the name Dannell became popular among the educated classes in England. Dannell Bacon (1516-1579), a prominent English philosopher and statesman, served as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Queen Elizabeth I. His essays and writings on law, politics, and philosophy were widely influential.
In the 17th century, Dannell Defoe (1660-1731) was an English writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, best known for his novel "Robinson Crusoe." Defoe was a prolific author who wrote on a wide range of topics, from politics and economics to satire and fiction.
Another notable figure with the name Dannell was Dannell O'Connell (1775-1847), an Irish political leader and statesman often referred to as "The Liberator." O'Connell played a crucial role in the campaign for Catholic Emancipation in Ireland and was a prominent figure in the Irish nationalist movement.
People
Dannell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dannell 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
Dannell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dannell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 339 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dannell 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 1,011,075 US residents.
Is Dannell a common name?
We classify Dannell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 376 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dannell most popular?
The single biggest year for Dannell was 1973, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dannell is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dannell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 378 people with the name Dannell, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,170 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 Dannell 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 Dannell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dannell on both sides of the split. Of the 384 people counted with this name, 139 were male (36.2%) and 245 were female (63.8%). 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 Dannell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dannell is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Black (35.4%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Dannell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dannell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.6% (180 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 Dannell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dannell a female name?
Yes, 62.2% of people registered as Dannell 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 Dannell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dannell 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 Dannell 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 have the name Dannell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.