As the father of a son named Daniel, I found this fascinating. Thanks!
I think I agree with the comment in the conclusion that Torah names are used by non-Jews when a Christian comes across the name. But I don't think in this case it's because of the supposed prophecies about Jesus but because the stories about Daniel in the Book of Daniel are memorable. I remember hearing about "Daniel in the Lion's Den" and Daniel sitting in flames in church and in my Children's Bible stories.
But I chose the name for my son not (directly) because of its religious significance but because it's a normal, known name, in both English and Spanish. That is, neither a WASP American or a Mexican will really bat an eye at it. As a Hispanic American, that's something I've appreciated about my own name, Gabriel (and would love a historical deep dive on that name!). I couldn't really find any other names like that.
Gabriel is a conjunction of gabri- (heroic man), and -el (god), roughly translating to "man of God". -el is just a generic proto-semitic word for god that long predates any sort of written language. gabri- is likely related to a well known Aramean king named Gabbār, documented in the Kilamuwa stela alongside his (honorable) god Ba'al SMD. It's entirely possible that there's some recursive etymology here though, as is common with dynastic names.
Gabriel also appears in both the Hebrew scriptures (in the Ketuvim, which only names two angels) and the Gospels, being both the angel who explains Daniel's visions to him, and involved in the revelations for the births of both Jesus and John the Baptist.
Is Michael (or it s cognate) at all common as a name in Mexico? That's a figure that is at least as prominent as Gabriel across the Abrahamic religions (in particular the prominent inclusion in the Leonine Prayers keep it a popular name in many Roman Catholic regions).
David, Leonardo, Sebastian? (just going off baby name sites; wonder what ads I'll be seeing for the next few weeks?)
There was a line in To Kill a Mockingbird about being named for a Confederate general leading to slow, steady, drinking, but when I looked at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Civil_War_gen... they have the WASP standards: British kings, Other kings, Biblical.
(they also don't [from looking at A-C] seem to have the <ancestral name> <everyday name> <family name> triad that was common in certain parts of the US during my youth)
That Venn diagram showing a child coming out from center of two round overlapping circles might be not the best choice, especially when pink color circles are at play when looking for feminine names :-)
P.S.
A bit of noise in the data too, some names in Polish/English pairs are not really good.
I think I agree with the comment in the conclusion that Torah names are used by non-Jews when a Christian comes across the name. But I don't think in this case it's because of the supposed prophecies about Jesus but because the stories about Daniel in the Book of Daniel are memorable. I remember hearing about "Daniel in the Lion's Den" and Daniel sitting in flames in church and in my Children's Bible stories.
But I chose the name for my son not (directly) because of its religious significance but because it's a normal, known name, in both English and Spanish. That is, neither a WASP American or a Mexican will really bat an eye at it. As a Hispanic American, that's something I've appreciated about my own name, Gabriel (and would love a historical deep dive on that name!). I couldn't really find any other names like that.