Danielle
A feminine name of French origin meaning "God is my judge".
Name Census estimates that about 352,112 living Americans carry the first name Danielle. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Danielle today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danielle births was 1987 (17,085 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danielle. 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 Danielle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Danielle is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,895 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Danielle have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
352K
~ 1 in 973 Americans
Peak year
1987
17,085 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2012 SSA rank
#523
Tracked since 1937
Census
Danielle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 329,069 people with the first name Danielle, which placed it at #152 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
#152
National first-name rank
People counted
329K
329,069 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
109.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danielle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danielle is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Danielle 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 Danielle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.7% · 235,976
- Black or African American12.6% · 41,305
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 30,537
- Two or more races4.3% · 14,146
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4,780
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2,325
Gender
Gender distribution for Danielle
Out of the 373,134 babies given the name Danielle since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Danielle as a male name
- Ranked #9,037 in 2012
- 8 male births in 2012
- Peak: 1989 (117 births)
Danielle as a female name
- Ranked #523 in 2024
- 588 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (17,009 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danielle appears almost entirely female. Of the 329,075 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Danielle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danielle from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 135,216 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Danielle 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 Danielle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Danielles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Danielle, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,256 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danielle
The name Danielle is a French feminine form of the masculine name Daniel, which is derived from the Hebrew name Daniyyel. The name Daniyyel likely comes from the Hebrew words "din" meaning "to judge" and "el" meaning "God", so the name can be interpreted as "God is my judge".
The name first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible, as the name of the prophet Daniel. Daniel was a young Hebrew man taken into captivity by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC. He became known for his ability to interpret dreams and visions, as well as his unwavering faith.
As a feminine name, Danielle emerged in France during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded examples is Danielle de Ramerupt, a 12th-century French noblewoman. By the 13th century, the name had become more widespread among the French aristocracy.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Danielle. These include Danielle de Brie (1448-1516), a French nun and writer; Danielle Huillet (1936-2006), a French filmmaker; and Danielle Steel (born 1947), the prolific American novelist.
In the realm of royalty, Danielle de Bourbon (1616-1684) was a French princess and the legitimized daughter of King Henry IV of France. Another royal figure was Danielle of Lezignan (1215-1235), a French noblewoman who married Raymond VII of Toulouse.
The name Danielle has also been carried by prominent figures in the arts and sciences. Danielle Darrieux (1917-2017) was a French actress who appeared in over 100 films. Danielle Régine Simon-Pierre (1925-2018), better known as Régine, was a French nightclub owner and singer who helped popularize the modern cabaret.
These are just a few examples of the many women throughout history who have borne the name Danielle, a name with roots dating back to ancient Hebrew and a long tradition in French culture.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Danielle
People
Danielle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danielle 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
Danielle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danielle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 352,112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danielle 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 973 US residents.
Is Danielle a common name?
We classify Danielle as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 373,134 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danielle most popular?
The single biggest year for Danielle was 1987, when 17,085 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danielle is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danielle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 329,069 people with the name Danielle, or 108.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #152 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 Danielle 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 Danielle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danielle appears almost entirely female. Of the 329,075 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Danielle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danielle is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Danielle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Danielle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.7% (235,976 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 Danielle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danielle a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Danielle 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 Danielle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danielle 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 Danielle 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 Danielle?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.