Danijah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "close" or "near".
Name Census estimates that about 193 living Americans carry the first name Danijah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Danijah today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Danijah births was 2008 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Danijah. 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
193
~ 1 in 1,775,929 Americans
Peak year
2008
23 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2019 SSA rank
#14,219
Tracked since 2000
Census
Danijah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 150 people with the first name Danijah, which placed it at #45,340 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
#45,340
National first-name rank
People counted
150
150 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Danijah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danijah is Black at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.3%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Danijah 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 Danijah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.0% · 138
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 5
- Two or more races2.0% · 3
- White1.3% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 2
Popularity
Danijah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Danijah from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 146 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Danijah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Danijah 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 Danijah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Danijah
The given name Danijah originates from the Arabic language and culture. It is a variant spelling of the name Daniyah, which is derived from the Arabic word "dunya," meaning "world" or "life." This name is believed to have been in use since ancient times in the Middle East and North Africa regions.
One of the earliest known references to the name Danijah can be found in the writings of medieval Arabic scholars and poets. For instance, the 9th-century Iraqi poet Abu Tammam mentioned a woman named Danijah in one of his poetic works, praising her beauty and intellect.
In the Islamic tradition, the name Danijah is sometimes associated with the concept of seeking knowledge and understanding the world around us. This connection may stem from the root word "dunya," which represents the temporal world and the importance of learning and personal growth within it.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Danijah. One of the earliest recorded examples is Danijah bint al-Hasan al-Baghdadi (born c. 937 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Baghdad. She was highly respected for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the study of Hadith (prophetic traditions).
Another prominent figure was Danijah al-Andalusiyyah (born c. 1050 CE), a poet and literary figure from Andalusia (modern-day Spain). Her poetry was celebrated for its elegance and depth, reflecting the cultural richness of the Islamic Golden Age in Iberia.
In the 13th century, Danijah al-Muqri (born c. 1220 CE) was a renowned calligrapher and scribe from Damascus, Syria. Her exquisite calligraphic works were highly sought after and adorned the pages of many important manuscripts and religious texts.
During the Ottoman Empire, Danijah Khanum (born c. 1650 CE) was a prominent figure in the imperial court of Istanbul. She was a skilled diplomat and advisor, known for her wisdom and political acumen in navigating the complex dynamics of the Ottoman court.
More recently, Danijah Al-Ghazzi (1917-2008) was a Syrian writer and journalist who played a significant role in promoting women's rights and education in the Arab world. Her works explored themes of social justice, gender equality, and cultural identity.
People
Danijah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Danijah 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
Danijah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Danijah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 193 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Danijah 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 1,775,929 US residents.
Is Danijah a common name?
We classify Danijah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 195 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Danijah most popular?
The single biggest year for Danijah was 2008, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Danijah is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Danijah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 150 people with the name Danijah, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,340 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 Danijah 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 Danijah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Danijah leans strongly female. 145 people counted with this name were female (96.0%), compared with 6 male bearers (4.0%). 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 Danijah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Danijah is Black at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.3%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Danijah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Danijah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.0% (138 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 Danijah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Danijah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Danijah 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 Danijah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Danijah 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 Danijah 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 are named Danijah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Danijah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.