Daniela
- Pronunciation
- [Dan-yel-la]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- God Is My Judge
- Origin
- Romanian
About the Name Daniela
Daniela is the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian feminine form of Daniel (see separate entry on Daniel for the Hebrew Daniyyel etymology meaning "God is my judge"). The Latinate Daniela has been used continuously across Latinate naming traditions for centuries, parallel to the masculine Daniel.
Notable bearers include Romanian-American gymnast Daniela Silivaș (1988 Olympic gold medalist), Brazilian-American actress Daniela Mercury, and contemporary American actress Daniela Ruah. The name has been continuously among the popular girls' names in Spanish-speaking American communities for decades.
Daniela's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 200 in 1990 to the US top 100 girls' rank by 2003 and held a top-150 range through 2018. The name's appeal is its layered Latinate classical-religious pedigree combined with four flowing syllables that nickname easily. The name reads as both classical-biblical and contemporary in Spanish-American naming. Common nicknames Dani (the dominant short form, gender-neutral), Ela, Dana, and the rare Niela each carry distinct registers; the alternate spelling Danielle (the French feminine form) has its own SSA tracking. International forms include Danielle (French/English), Daniela (Italian/Spanish/Portuguese/Romanian, identical), and the masculine Daniel family.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Daniela
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Daniela by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2007 with 3,079 girls named Daniela (girl rank #108 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #302 for girls (1,009 US births). That's 194 places below its 2007 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Where in the US Is Daniela Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Daniela the strongest states are Texas, California, District of Columbia.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #115 | 2,384 |
| 2 | California | #122 | 2,531 |
| 3 | District of Columbia | #126 | 55 |
| 4 | Florida | #173 | 943 |
| 5 | Maryland | #173 | 302 |
| 6 | New Jersey | #188 | 412 |
| 7 | Arizona | #189 | 319 |
| 8 | Nevada | #197 | 134 |
| 9 | Rhode Island | #200 | 15 |
| 10 | New Mexico | #201 | 59 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio | #692 | 136 |
| 2 | Michigan | #674 | 102 |
| 3 | Missouri | #625 | 57 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | #588 | 143 |
| 5 | Louisiana | #565 | 83 |
| 6 | Minnesota | #538 | 70 |
| 7 | Kentucky | #513 | 70 |
| 8 | South Carolina | #496 | 90 |
| 9 | Indiana | #489 | 135 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | #485 | 91 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Daniela in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Danila | God Is My Judge | Female | Hebrew |
Famous People Named Daniela
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Daniela.
- Daniela Silivaș is a former Romanian gymnast who won six medals at the 1988 Olympic Games.
Looking for names like Daniela?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Daniela to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Daniela against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).