Hebrew Daniyyel — god is my judge. The prophet in the lions' den, whose book gave English the phrase "writing on the wall".
Daniel ranks 22nd among American boys in 2025, with 8,093 born that year. Its best year was 1985, when 38,853 babies were given the name, ranking 5th. The typical living American called Daniel is about 43 years old today. It is relatively most common in District of Columbia, where it accounts for 0.57% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.