Daniel
A Hebrew name meaning "god is my judge". It still sits inside Poland's top hundred for boys, and with around 171,000 men carrying it, you almost certainly know one.
Daniel Pronunciation
Daniel is pronounced DAH-nyel (/ˈdaɲɛl/).
What Daniel means
Where Daniel comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Daniel comes from the Hebrew Daniyyel, and it means "God is my judge." The judgment is not a threat here. It sets the person under a higher court than any human one, and that idea gave the name to the prophet of the Book of Daniel, the man kept overnight among lions.
Poland took the name early through the Church calendar. A boy named Daniel will find his imieniny more than once a year, and on a school register the name sits without needing translation. Its shape holds steady across borders.
The feminine forms come later. Daniela and Daniella turn the same Hebrew root toward a daughter, keeping the meaning and changing the ending. A family can carry both, a Daniel and a Daniela, under one roof.
What stays through all of this is the plain sense of the Hebrew: God is my judge.
How many people are named Daniel
1 in 125 men in Poland is named Daniel. 171,090 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #85 among male names.
Daniel's popularity over time
554 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #102 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #85 name among living men, even as it slips to #102 among newborns.
Where Daniel is most popular
Daniel is most popular in Opole, 47% above the national average (135 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+42%) and Lubusz (+25%). It is least common in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Warmian-Masurian, 36% and 32% below average respectively.
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Opole135 boys born+47%
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Lower Silesian447 boys born+42%
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Lubusz124 boys born+25%
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Silesian527 boys born+16%
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Masovian813 boys born+15%
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West Pomeranian185 boys born+10%
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Łódź249 boys born−2%
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Lesser Poland439 boys born−3%
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Pomeranian277 boys born−6%
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Świętokrzyskie100 boys born−10%
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Podlaskie109 boys born−17%
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Greater Poland358 boys born−17%
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Subcarpathian178 boys born−26%
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Lublin142 boys born−31%
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Warmian-Masurian98 boys born−32%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian139 boys born−36%
Daniel as a middle name
Daniel is a first name for 171,090 men in Poland and a middle name for another 62,511, a 73/27 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 45th, between Dawid (65,167) and Szymon (62,434).
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43
68,158Mirosław
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44
65,167Dawid
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4562,511Daniel
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46
62,434Szymon
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47
62,417Mieczysław
When Daniel celebrates name day
Daniel appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 3 January.