Danyel
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge".
Name Census estimates that about 3,067 living Americans carry the first name Danyel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Danyel today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danyel births was 1976 (155 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danyel. 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 Danyel with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Danyel was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 111,756 Americans
Peak year
1976
155 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,439
Tracked since 1964
Census
Danyel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,676 people with the first name Danyel, which placed it at #6,093 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
#6,093
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,676 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danyel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danyel is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Danyel 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 Danyel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.6% · 1,407
- Black or African American27.1% · 724
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 348
- Two or more races5.1% · 137
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 28
Gender
Gender distribution for Danyel
Danyel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,243 total registrations, 732 (22.6%) were male and 2,511 (77.4%) were female.
Danyel as a male name
- Ranked #8,439 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (30 births)
Danyel as a female name
- Ranked #14,219 in 2018
- 6 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1976 (126 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Danyel on both sides of the split. Of the 2,671 people counted with this name, 551 were male (20.6%) and 2,120 were female (79.4%).
Popularity
Danyel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danyel from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 952 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
Danyel 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 Danyel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danyels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Danyel, while Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danyel
The name Danyel is derived from the Hebrew name Daniel, which means "God is my judge" or "God has judged." It is a biblical name that first appeared in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, where Daniel was a noble Jewish youth who was exiled to Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC.
The name gained widespread popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe, where it was often spelled as Daniel or Danihel. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Danyel dates back to the 13th century, when a monk named Danyel de Beccles lived in Suffolk, England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Danyel or variations of the name. In the 15th century, Danyel Defoe, an English trader and writer, was born in 1660 and is best known for his novel "Robinson Crusoe." Another famous bearer of the name was Danyel Quare, an English clockmaker and inventor, who lived from 1648 to 1724 and is credited with inventing the repeating watch.
In the 16th century, Danyel Nao, a Portuguese explorer and navigator, accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his famous voyage around the world in 1519-1522. Danyel Nao played a crucial role in the expedition and is believed to have been one of the first Europeans to cross the Pacific Ocean.
In the 17th century, Danyel Heinsius, a Dutch scholar and poet, lived from 1580 to 1655 and is considered one of the most influential figures in the Dutch Renaissance. He was known for his Latin poetry and his contributions to classical scholarship.
Moving to the 18th century, Danyel Defoe, a French military engineer and author, lived from 1670 to 1737 and is best known for his work on fortifications and his treatise on military architecture.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Danyel or variations of it. The name has a rich history and has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its enduring popularity and significance.
People
Danyel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danyel 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
Danyel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danyel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,067 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danyel 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 111,756 US residents.
Is Danyel a common name?
We classify Danyel as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,243 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danyel most popular?
The single biggest year for Danyel was 1976, when 155 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danyel is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danyel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,676 people with the name Danyel, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,093 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 Danyel 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 Danyel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Danyel on both sides of the split. Of the 2,671 people counted with this name, 551 were male (20.6%) and 2,120 were female (79.4%). 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 Danyel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danyel is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Danyel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Danyel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (1,407 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 Danyel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danyel a female name?
Yes, 77.4% of people registered as Danyel 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 Danyel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danyel 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 Danyel 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 Americans are named Danyel?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Danyel at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.