girl's name
Danielle
dan-YEL
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 8
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 569,007
the United States
#550
2025 births
Danielle is a girl's name, the French feminine of Daniel, from a Hebrew name meaning God is my judge. It peaked in 1987 and ranks 550th in the United States, charting in five of the seven markets we track.
- Danielle is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in 1987, when 17,086 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 6,028 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1937.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 3.
Danielle over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1930s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 169 |
| 1940s | 881 |
| 1950s | 1,711 |
| 1960s | 13,209 |
| 1970s | 61,407 |
| 1980s | 135,215 |
| 1990s | 109,965 |
| 2000s | 35,753 |
| 2010s | 11,556 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,832 |
What Danielle means
Danielle means God is my judge. The Hebrew is a statement rather than a description, asserting where judgment properly belongs rather than saying anything about the bearer.
Where Danielle comes from
Danielle is the French feminine of Daniel, from the Hebrew Daniyyel — dan, he judged, joined to el, God. The Book of Daniel gives the name its weight: the exile who reads the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast and survives the lions' den, and whose visions shaped later apocalyptic writing. The French feminine is medieval, and English borrowed it in the twentieth century as part of the same wave that brought Michelle, Nicole and Denise — French feminines of established masculine names, adopted for their sound rather than through any French connection.
Danielle in use
Danielle peaked in the United States in 1987, when 17,086 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 550th in the United States on 550 births, 980th in Scotland, 1496th in England and Wales and 6907th in France, across 569,007 lifetime births. Our records carry it only from 1937, so it is among the youngest names in this group, and it ranks far lower in France than in the English-speaking markets that adopted it.
How popular is Danielle?
In 2025, Danielle was given to 550 babies in the United States, ranking #550 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Danielle is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Danielle is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Danièlle | Danièlle is Danielle written with a grave accent in France, and the spelling parents there overwhelmingly choose: it ranks #1,307 in France, against #6,907 for Danielle. | 15 |
Names that peaked alongside Danielle
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Danielle also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Danielle over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Danielle
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Danielle in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Danielle
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Danielle — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Danielle
What does the name Danielle mean?
God is my judge, from the Hebrew Daniyyel.
Is Danielle the feminine of Daniel?
Yes, by way of French, which formed it in the medieval period.
Is Danielle a French name?
The formation is French, though it ranks far lower in France than in the English-speaking markets that took it up.
How popular is Danielle?
550th in the United States, down from a 1987 peak of 17,086 births.
Is Danielle a girl's or a boy's name?
Danielle is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Danielle?
Danielle has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Danielle?
Danielle is usually shortened to Dani and Elle.
Is Danielle a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Danielle currently ranks #516 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.