Daniel is a name of Hebrew origin that means "God is my judge." It comes from the Old Testament story of Daniel, who was a prophet and a faithful servant of God during the Babylonian captivity.
The name Daniel first appears in the Bible as one of the four young men taken captive to Babylon along with King Jehoiakim. Despite being held captive, Daniel remained steadfast in his faith and refused to compromise his beliefs. He was eventually thrown into a den of lions for his refusal to worship the king's gods, but he was miraculously saved by God.
The name Daniel has been popular throughout history. It was borne by several early saints, including Saint Daniel the Stylite, who lived in the 5th century and became famous for his ascetic lifestyle on top of a pillar. In art, Daniel is often depicted as a young man with lions, reflecting the story from the Book of Daniel.
Today, Daniel remains a popular name around the world. It has been particularly popular in countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, where it has consistently ranked among the top 100 names for boys over the past few decades.
In literature and pop culture, Daniel has been used as a character name in numerous works, including "Daniel Deronda" by George Eliot, "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis, and the TV series "Breaking Bad.
The given statistics illustrate the annual frequency of the name Danielle among newborns in the United States from 1951 to 2015. Between these years, there were a total of 190 babies named Danielle.
The highest number of births with this name occurred in 1973 and again in 1982, each year seeing 11 newborns named Danielle. Conversely, the lowest annual count was recorded in 1954, 1967, 1977, 1984, 1991, and 2015, with only five babies being given this name each year.
The data also shows fluctuations over time. While there were consistently fewer than ten Danielle births per year between 1951 and 1981, the period from 1982 to 1993 saw more variability, ranging from six to thirteen births annually. After 1993, the frequency of this name dropped again, with most years seeing fewer than ten Danielle births.
It's interesting to note that despite these fluctuations, Danielle remained a relatively uncommon name throughout this period. Only once did it surpass the tenth position in popularity rankings for girls' names in the U.S., reaching its peak at number nine in 1973.