Both of my kids had that, the second still does. It's normal. Sometimes he cries for a min then goes back to sleep. It's night terror but also could be separation anxiety, especially at this age.
I read about children waking up and cry at night, they said what happened was that some kids didn't want the parents to hold or touch them, which might make it worse, especially when they were dreaming. Just let them cry a little bit, they will calm down and go back to sleep. But in your case, your daughter calmed down when you held her, that would mean she has night terror and separation anxiety, being held made her feel secure. And this becomes her routine, like you said she wakes up around the same time every night. There's one period of time my son was doing that, woke up exactly the same time, like he had a internal clock. Really not much you can do, they will outgrow of it.