Don
Don was given to 89 boys in 2025, #1,795 among boys’ names; 168,839 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 75,900 Americans named Don and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (45% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 57 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Don by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Don mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Don is “a diminutive of the male given names Donald, Donovan, and Gordon.”
/dɑn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Don?
#1,795 among boys’ names, 2025
Don fell from #1,445 in 2015 to #1,795 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 61.0 to 52.1 per million.
4,130 babies in 1946, the peak
Don peaked in 1946, when 4,130 babies were given it (4,110 boys, #79 among boys’ names). The 89 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 89 | #1,795 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 92 | #1,780 | 0.05 |
| 2023 | 94 | #1,750 | 0.05 |
| 2022 | 115 | #1,552 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 102 | #1,638 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 90 | #1,722 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 88 | #1,768 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 115 | #1,500 | 0.06 |
| 2017 | 90 | #1,725 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 105 | #1,566 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 117 | #1,445 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 112 | #1,457 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 125 | #1,354 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 96 | #1,618 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 113 | #1,452 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 111 | #1,473 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 136 | #1,293 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 133 | #1,306 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 127 | #1,334 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 170 | #1,055 | 0.08 |
| 2005 | 138 | #1,155 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 140 | #1,127 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 155 | #1,018 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 155 | #1,002 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 183 | #872 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 193 | #828 | 0.10 |
| 1999 | 187 | #814 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 207 | #766 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 194 | #766 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 233 | #693 | 0.12 |
| 1995 | 299 | #596 | 0.16 |
| 1994 | 231 | #683 | 0.12 |
| 1993 | 309 | #586 | 0.16 |
| 1992 | 293 | #601 | 0.15 |
| 1991 | 353 | #538 | 0.17 |
| 1990 | 332 | #553 | 0.16 |
| 1989 | 393 | #483 | 0.20 |
| 1988 | 454 | #425 | 0.24 |
| 1987 | 449 | #412 | 0.24 |
| 1986 | 467 | #391 | 0.25 |
| 1985 | 473 | #381 | 0.26 |
| 1984 | 472 | #373 | 0.26 |
| 1983 | 478 | #367 | 0.27 |
| 1982 | 552 | #341 | 0.30 |
| 1981 | 653 | #298 | 0.36 |
| 1980 | 598 | #321 | 0.34 |
| 1979 | 654 | #303 | 0.38 |
| 1978 | 587 | #306 | 0.36 |
| 1977 | 732 | #268 | 0.45 |
| 1976 | 718 | #269 | 0.46 |
| 1975 | 766 | #258 | 0.49 |
| 1974 | 798 | #252 | 0.51 |
| 1973 | 893 | #237 | 0.57 |
| 1972 | 977 | #223 | 0.60 |
| 1971 | 1,092 | #215 | 0.62 |
| 1970 | 1,279 | #203 | 0.69 |
| 1969 | 1,349 | #194 | 0.75 |
| 1968 | 1,404 | #183 | 0.81 |
| 1967 | 1,469 | #177 | 0.84 |
| 1966 | 1,650 | #166 | 0.93 |
| 1965 | 1,907 | #157 | 1.0 |
| 1964 | 2,304 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1963 | 2,522 | #135 | 1.2 |
| 1962 | 2,915 | #123 | 1.4 |
| 1961 | 3,149 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 1960 | 3,454 | #115 | 1.6 |
| 1959 | 3,617 | #111 | 1.7 |
| 1958 | 3,580 | #112 | 1.7 |
| 1957 | 3,347 | #117 | 1.6 |
| 1956 | 2,898 | #123 | 1.4 |
| 1955 | 2,649 | #125 | 1.3 |
| 1954 | 2,748 | #120 | 1.3 |
| 1953 | 2,712 | #121 | 1.4 |
| 1952 | 2,570 | #120 | 1.3 |
| 1951 | 2,619 | #117 | 1.4 |
| 1950 | 2,712 | #107 | 1.5 |
| 1949 | 3,060 | #98 | 1.7 |
| 1948 | 3,546 | #91 | 2.0 |
| 1947 | 4,007 | #86 | 2.2 |
| 1946 | 4,110 | #79 | 2.5 |
| 1945 | 3,482 | #73 | 2.6 |
| 1944 | 3,589 | #72 | 2.6 |
| 1943 | 3,817 | #72 | 2.7 |
| 1942 | 3,564 | #72 | 2.6 |
| 1941 | 3,533 | #66 | 2.9 |
| 1940 | 3,547 | #62 | 3.1 |
| 1939 | 3,589 | #56 | 3.2 |
| 1938 | 3,900 | #52 | 3.5 |
| 1937 | 3,814 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1936 | 3,830 | #51 | 3.7 |
| 1935 | 3,917 | #51 | 3.8 |
| 1934 | 3,926 | #50 | 3.8 |
| 1933 | 3,453 | #54 | 3.5 |
| 1932 | 3,453 | #55 | 3.3 |
| 1931 | 3,176 | #59 | 3.1 |
| 1930 | 2,922 | #68 | 2.7 |
| 1929 | 2,519 | #78 | 2.3 |
| 1928 | 2,382 | #84 | 2.2 |
| 1927 | 2,303 | #90 | 2.0 |
| 1926 | 1,966 | #96 | 1.8 |
| 1925 | 1,653 | #106 | 1.5 |
| 1924 | 1,451 | #125 | 1.3 |
| 1923 | 1,293 | #130 | 1.2 |
| 1922 | 1,183 | #136 | 1.1 |
| 1921 | 1,172 | #136 | 1.1 |
| 1920 | 1,019 | #148 | 1.0 |
| 1919 | 956 | #145 | 1.0 |
| 1918 | 931 | #153 | 0.92 |
| 1917 | 757 | #167 | 0.82 |
| 1916 | 744 | #160 | 0.84 |
| 1915 | 747 | #156 | 0.88 |
| 1914 | 521 | #173 | 0.80 |
| 1913 | 388 | #176 | 0.76 |
| 1912 | 332 | #177 | 0.77 |
| 1911 | 167 | #184 | 0.74 |
| 1910 | 140 | #191 | 0.72 |
| 1909 | 110 | #197 | 0.67 |
| 1908 | 107 | #193 | 0.69 |
| 1907 | 81 | #227 | 0.55 |
| 1906 | 87 | #203 | 0.65 |
| 1905 | 85 | #206 | 0.64 |
| 1904 | 75 | #213 | 0.59 |
| 1903 | 64 | #228 | 0.54 |
| 1902 | 79 | #200 | 0.64 |
| 1901 | 48 | #250 | 0.45 |
| 1900 | 81 | #219 | 0.54 |
| 1899 | 65 | #202 | 0.61 |
| 1898 | 49 | #252 | 0.40 |
| 1897 | 49 | #249 | 0.43 |
| 1896 | 66 | #221 | 0.55 |
| 1895 | 78 | #191 | 0.66 |
| 1894 | 72 | #203 | 0.62 |
| 1893 | 64 | #213 | 0.57 |
| 1892 | 68 | #214 | 0.56 |
| 1891 | 48 | #233 | 0.47 |
| 1890 | 61 | #212 | 0.55 |
| 1889 | 62 | #207 | 0.56 |
| 1888 | 50 | #245 | 0.41 |
| 1887 | 39 | #256 | 0.38 |
| 1886 | 61 | #216 | 0.55 |
| 1885 | 35 | #282 | 0.32 |
| 1884 | 47 | #251 | 0.41 |
| 1883 | 54 | #203 | 0.52 |
| 1882 | 46 | #251 | 0.40 |
| 1881 | 26 | #320 | 0.26 |
| 1880 | 34 | #284 | 0.31 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Don a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Don has been given almost only to boys: 1,207 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Don: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Don, and how old are they?
75,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 45% of the 168,839 Americans ever recorded as Don. The median Don alive today is 67 years old; half are between 57 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 109,818 people named Don (1,242 women and girls, 108,576 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 91,796 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Don rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 12,700 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 38,400 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 14,900 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,130 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,390 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,320 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Don born?
The states with the most babies named Don are California, Texas and Ohio, with 26% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 17,030 | #2,563 | 1.5× |
| Texas | 15,565 | #1,141 | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 10,040 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 9,039 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 6,838 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Oklahoma | 6,197 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Missouri | 5,965 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Indiana | 5,713 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Tennessee | 4,504 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Washington | 4,361 | not ranked | 1.8× |
Where Don is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Don is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 3.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Don with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 175,606 babies since 1880, Don is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 89 of their 89 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Don
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Don and names like it
- Compare Don and DonnBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sDon peaked in 1946.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Don since 1910.
- The top names of 1946The year the most babies were named Don.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Don alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.