Daniela

The biblical Daniel served at the courts of Nebuchadnezzar II and Darius during the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE, and the book bearing his name is 1 of the latest books of the Hebrew canon, dated by most scholars to the Maccabean period

around 164 BCE.

His visions of successive empires and the “Ancient of Days” influenced apocalyptic literature across Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions.

The feminine form appears in medieval Latin documents from the 12th century onward, though it gained widespread use only in the early modern period.

Several notable Catholic and Orthodox figures bore the feminine form, and the name featured in the literature of Romance-language countries through writers such as Gabriele D’Annunzio and Luigi Pirandello.

In 20th-century Latin America, Daniela became 1 of the most popular feminine names, boosted by telenovela characters and the singer Daniela Romo, whose career beginning in the 1980s made the name iconic in Mexico and across the Spanish-speaking world.

Across the United States, Daniela first entered the SSA top 1000 in 1973 and climbed steadily through the 1990s and 2000s, driven primarily by Hispanic-American families.

It reached its peak around 2005, when it ranked in the top 150. The name remains among the top 100 feminine names in Italy, Romania, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, and it is well established in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

Contemporary bearers include Italian-American model Daniela Pestova, Colombian actress Daniela Tapia, Romanian tennis player Daniela Hantuchová, and German chancellor candidate Daniela Ludwig.