Danny

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 21 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Danny is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name596K records spelled Danny29 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Dänny, D'Anny, Dännÿ, Dánny, Dânny

• Indonesian given name33K records spelled Danny9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Danny, Dånny, Dánny, Dåññy, Dãnny

• Greek given name6.9K records spelled Danny6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands

  Also written Dagny, Ntani, Ντανι, Ντάνι, Dagný

• a separate given name6.2K records spelled Danny16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Netherlands

  Also written Dãññy, Danňy, Dánny, Dànny, Däññy

71 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Danny is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A diminutive of the male given name Daniel.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Danny är ursprungligen en engelsk smekform till → Daniel. En känd nutida svensk namnbärare är artisten Danny (egentligen Daniel) Saucedo (f. 1986). Runt förra sekelskiftet gavs namnet till kvinnor tillsammans med andra namn som slutade på -ny, t.ex. → Jenny.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In English, Dano-Norwegian [Bokmal]

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, literary Norwegian

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• Pet form of Dan.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 125 years between 1900–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Danny Aiellob. 1933USAmerican actor
• Danny Trejob. 1944USNative Mexican-American character actor
• Danny Gloverb. 1946USAmerican actor (born 1946)
• Danny Mannb. 1951USAmerican voice actor, writer, singer, musician, and production manager
• Danny Boyleb. 1956GBEnglish filmmaker
• Danny Hustonb. 1962ITAmerican actor, director
• Danny Woodburnb. 1964USAmerican actor
• Danny Welbeckb. 1990GBEnglish association football player (born 1990)
• Danny Roseb. 1990GBEnglish footballer (born 1990)
• Danny Wardb. 1993GBWelsh association football player (born 1993)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,459 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Danny?

We estimate roughly 255 thousand people bear Danny (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Danny have the most bearers?

We estimate about 196 thousand people bear Danny in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled danny.

Where is Danny most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Danny is densest in Ecuador — about 1 in 563 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Danny compared with other names?

In the United States, Danny is the 241st most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Danny a male or female name?

Danny is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Danny mean?

Recorded meaning: ethnic name from Old French daneis ‘Danish’.