Danelle
A feminine name of French origin meaning "valley".
Name Census estimates that about 6,436 living Americans carry the first name Danelle. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Danelle today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danelle births was 1974 (265 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danelle. 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 Danelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,256 Americans
Peak year
1974
265 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1984 SSA rank
#6,514
Tracked since 1938
Census
Danelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,249 people with the first name Danelle, which placed it at #3,383 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
#3,383
National first-name rank
People counted
6.2K
6,249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danelle is White at 71.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Danelle 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 Danelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.5% · 4,467
- Black or African American11.3% · 705
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 534
- Two or more races4.5% · 281
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 145
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 117
Gender
Gender distribution for Danelle
Out of the 7,155 babies given the name Danelle since 1880, 99.4% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Danelle as a male name
- Ranked #6,514 in 1984
- 5 male births in 1984
- Peak: 1978 (10 births)
Danelle as a female name
- Ranked #8,034 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1974 (265 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danelle leans strongly female. 6,127 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 125 male bearers (2.0%).
Popularity
Danelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danelle from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,175 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
Danelle 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 Danelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the most babies named Danelle, while South Carolina, Connecticut, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 124 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danelle
The name Danelle is a feminine given name of French origin, derived from the French word "danelle," which means "a small valley." The name traces its roots back to the Old French word "danel," which was a diminutive form of the word "dan," meaning "lord" or "master." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to refer to someone who lived in a small valley or a person of noble or elevated status.
The earliest recorded use of the name Danelle can be found in French historical records from the 16th century. During this period, France was experiencing a cultural renaissance, and many French names gained popularity across Europe. The name Danelle likely emerged as a more feminine variation of the traditional masculine name Daniel.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Danelle was Danelle de Castelnau, a French noblewoman who lived in the late 16th century. She was known for her charitable works and her support for the arts and literature in her region.
In the 17th century, the name Danelle was mentioned in a few French literary works, including a poem by the renowned poet Pierre Corneille, where he used the name to represent a character symbolizing purity and innocence.
Another notable figure with the name Danelle was Danelle Durand, a French artist and painter who lived in the 18th century. Her paintings, which often depicted pastoral scenes and landscapes, were highly regarded during her lifetime and are still appreciated by art enthusiasts today.
In the 19th century, the name Danelle gained popularity among French-speaking communities in North America, particularly in the regions of Quebec and Louisiana. One notable individual with this name was Danelle Mercier, a French-Canadian writer and activist who campaigned for women's rights and education in the late 1800s.
In more recent history, Danelle Drucker was an American author and journalist who wrote several books on social and political issues in the mid-20th century. She was born in 1923 and her works explored themes of feminism, civil rights, and social justice.
While the name Danelle has its roots in French culture, it has since been adopted and used by families in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its origins and historical significance can be traced back to the French language and the cultural and literary traditions of France.
People
Danelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danelle 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
Danelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,436 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danelle 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 53,256 US residents.
Is Danelle a common name?
We classify Danelle as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,155 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Danelle was 1974, when 265 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danelle is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,249 people with the name Danelle, or 2.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,383 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 Danelle 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 Danelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danelle leans strongly female. 6,127 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 125 male bearers (2.0%). 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 Danelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danelle is White at 71.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Danelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Danelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.5% (4,467 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 Danelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danelle a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Danelle 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 Danelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danelle 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 Danelle 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 Danelle?
Want to know how many Americans are named Danelle? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.