MEANING & HISTORY
What does Daniel mean?
Daniel comes from Hebrew Daniyyel, conventionally translated God is my judge. The final El is the divine element found in many Hebrew personal names.
The biblical prophet Daniel is the central historical and religious association. The name expresses a relationship to divine judgment rather than describing the bearer as a judge. Daniel and Danilo share this underlying name family.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /danˈjel/Standard-Tagalog
- [d̪ɐnˈɲɛl]Standard-Tagalog
- /danˈjel/no palatal assimilation
- [d̪ɐn̪ˈjɛl]no palatal assimilation
Dan · iel2 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗English
- /ˈdænjəl/Received-Pronunciation
- /ˈdænjəl/Canada · General-American
- [ˈdeə̯njəl]Canada · General-American · /æ/ raising
- [ˈdɛə̯njəl]Canada · General-American · /æ/ raising
- /ˈdænjəl/Australia
- /ˈdænəl/obsolete
- /ˈdeɪ̯njɛl/Philippines
Dan · iel2 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
a male given name from Spanish [in turn from Hebrew], equivalent to English Daniel
Wiktionary: Daniel (Tagalog) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
EnglishEtymology & source
From Middle English Daniel, Daniell, from Ancient Greek Δᾱνῑήλ (Dānīḗl), from Hebrew דָּנִיֵּאל (daniyél, literally “God is my judge”), name borne from the prophet whose story is told in the Book of Daniel.
A male given name from Hebrew in regular use since the Middle Ages.
Wiktionary: Daniel (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
SpanishEtymology & source
a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Daniel
Wiktionary: Daniel (Spanish) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Daniel
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Daniel Romualdez
Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 1958 to 1962
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
19
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
25
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Daniel So, Daniel Romualdez
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Daniel in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Boys’ registered births
View yearly counts and sources
| Year | Registered births | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 ↗ | Not listed in this publication | — |
| 2017 ↗ | 1,497 | #10 |
| 2018 ↗ | 1,498 | #10 |
| 2019 | No verified table imported | — |
| 2020 ↗ | Not listed in this publication | — |
| 2021 | No verified table imported | — |
| 2022 ↗ | Not listed in this publication | — |
| 2023 ↗ | Not listed in this publication | — |
| 2024 ↗ | Not listed in this publication | — |
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Related forms & spellings
Related forms may have their own language histories. They are not included in this spelling’s PSA count.
Similar names to Daniel
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Ariel♂♀Lion of God
- Dangal·Honour; dignity; good reputation
- Dani♂♀Short form of Daniel or Daniela
- Danica♀Morning star
- Daniella♀Feminine form of Daniel; God is my judge
- Danielle♀French feminine form of Daniel
- Danilo♂Form of Daniel; God is my judge
- Dante♂Short form of Durante: enduring
What rhymes with Daniel?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
- AbelTagalog · /-el/
- ArnelTagalog · /-el/
- FidelTagalog · /-el/
- GabrielTagalog · /-el/
- GabrielleTagalog · /-el/
- IsabelTagalog · /-el/
- IsmaelTagalog · /-el/
- IsraelTagalog · /-el/
- MaelTagalog · /-el/
- ManuelTagalog · /-el/
- MaribelTagalog · /-el/
- MiguelTagalog · /-el/
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Recorded combinations with Daniel
1 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
Explore combinations →Explore Daniel further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q14516546 — Daniel (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Daniel So (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q14516546 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Daniel Romualdez (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q14516546 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Daniel (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Daniel (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Daniel (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Daniel (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.
- NAS and Brown–Driver–Briggs lexical sections — Daniel (opens in a new tab)
Hebrew name formation and God/El is my judge; named lexical sections rather than the host’s devotional material.