Dona
Dona was given to 5 girls in 2025, #15,527 among girls’ names; 19,032 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,170 Americans named Dona and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (48% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 62 and 78.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dona by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dona mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dona is “a diminutive of the female given name Sedona.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dona?
#15,527 among girls’ names, 2025
Dona entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #15,527 in 2025.
492 babies in 1954, the peak
Dona peaked in 1954, when 492 babies were given it (487 girls, #390 among girls’ names). The 5 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #15,527 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 6 | #13,942 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 7 | #12,479 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 7 | #13,085 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,074 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 9 | #11,237 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 10 | #10,472 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 10 | #10,637 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 13 | #8,864 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,105 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (139)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 8 | #12,932 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 10 | #11,058 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 9 | #11,698 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 6 | #15,006 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 11 | #9,427 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 13 | #8,123 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 9 | #10,457 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,701 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,012 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 17 | #5,990 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 14 | #6,812 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 18 | #5,464 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 12 | #7,264 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 13 | #6,751 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 17 | #5,515 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 13 | #6,735 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 27 | #3,889 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 28 | #3,740 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 28 | #3,731 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 30 | #3,417 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 29 | #3,322 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 25 | #3,542 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 23 | #3,667 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 31 | #2,960 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 27 | #3,165 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 32 | #2,730 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 39 | #2,462 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 31 | #2,864 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 56 | #1,917 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 44 | #2,221 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 48 | #1,993 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 54 | #1,863 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 50 | #1,846 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 60 | #1,630 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 74 | #1,391 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 93 | #1,171 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 101 | #1,105 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 117 | #1,039 | 0.07 |
| 1970 | 151 | #880 | 0.09 |
| 1969 | 153 | #838 | 0.09 |
| 1968 | 151 | #827 | 0.09 |
| 1967 | 173 | #748 | 0.10 |
| 1966 | 201 | #690 | 0.12 |
| 1965 | 197 | #703 | 0.11 |
| 1964 | 248 | #649 | 0.13 |
| 1963 | 243 | #647 | 0.13 |
| 1962 | 281 | #593 | 0.14 |
| 1961 | 290 | #591 | 0.14 |
| 1960 | 310 | #555 | 0.15 |
| 1959 | 343 | #524 | 0.17 |
| 1958 | 331 | #532 | 0.16 |
| 1957 | 342 | #516 | 0.17 |
| 1956 | 420 | #447 | 0.21 |
| 1955 | 418 | #436 | 0.21 |
| 1954 | 487 | #390 | 0.25 |
| 1953 | 404 | #437 | 0.21 |
| 1952 | 369 | #446 | 0.20 |
| 1951 | 418 | #404 | 0.23 |
| 1950 | 378 | #410 | 0.22 |
| 1949 | 344 | #423 | 0.20 |
| 1948 | 370 | #412 | 0.22 |
| 1947 | 389 | #409 | 0.22 |
| 1946 | 359 | #402 | 0.23 |
| 1945 | 289 | #419 | 0.22 |
| 1944 | 354 | #375 | 0.27 |
| 1943 | 397 | #361 | 0.28 |
| 1942 | 354 | #379 | 0.26 |
| 1941 | 297 | #398 | 0.25 |
| 1940 | 267 | #420 | 0.23 |
| 1939 | 259 | #422 | 0.24 |
| 1938 | 287 | #395 | 0.26 |
| 1937 | 286 | #383 | 0.27 |
| 1936 | 303 | #362 | 0.29 |
| 1935 | 287 | #373 | 0.27 |
| 1934 | 348 | #339 | 0.33 |
| 1933 | 411 | #302 | 0.41 |
| 1932 | 425 | #306 | 0.40 |
| 1931 | 411 | #316 | 0.39 |
| 1930 | 401 | #329 | 0.36 |
| 1929 | 363 | #340 | 0.33 |
| 1928 | 381 | #346 | 0.33 |
| 1927 | 376 | #345 | 0.32 |
| 1926 | 288 | #403 | 0.24 |
| 1925 | 212 | #480 | 0.17 |
| 1924 | 179 | #541 | 0.14 |
| 1923 | 181 | #524 | 0.15 |
| 1922 | 161 | #565 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 135 | #637 | 0.11 |
| 1920 | 114 | #680 | 0.10 |
| 1919 | 102 | #695 | 0.09 |
| 1918 | 115 | #662 | 0.10 |
| 1917 | 107 | #658 | 0.10 |
| 1916 | 104 | #669 | 0.10 |
| 1915 | 79 | #748 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 62 | #728 | 0.08 |
| 1913 | 49 | #752 | 0.08 |
| 1912 | 51 | #707 | 0.09 |
| 1911 | 47 | #627 | 0.11 |
| 1910 | 41 | #665 | 0.10 |
| 1909 | 40 | #616 | 0.12 |
| 1908 | 32 | #682 | 0.10 |
| 1907 | 44 | #546 | 0.14 |
| 1906 | 38 | #571 | 0.13 |
| 1905 | 51 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1904 | 50 | #466 | 0.18 |
| 1903 | 37 | #532 | 0.14 |
| 1902 | 60 | #400 | 0.23 |
| 1901 | 45 | #442 | 0.19 |
| 1900 | 46 | #499 | 0.15 |
| 1899 | 43 | #444 | 0.18 |
| 1898 | 59 | #403 | 0.23 |
| 1897 | 46 | #432 | 0.20 |
| 1896 | 35 | #500 | 0.15 |
| 1895 | 44 | #426 | 0.19 |
| 1894 | 45 | #416 | 0.20 |
| 1893 | 36 | #440 | 0.17 |
| 1892 | 52 | #371 | 0.24 |
| 1891 | 47 | #362 | 0.25 |
| 1890 | 52 | #354 | 0.27 |
| 1889 | 44 | #363 | 0.25 |
| 1888 | 46 | #349 | 0.26 |
| 1887 | 41 | #334 | 0.28 |
| 1886 | 31 | #388 | 0.21 |
| 1885 | 43 | #306 | 0.32 |
| 1884 | 34 | #337 | 0.26 |
| 1883 | 30 | #325 | 0.27 |
| 1882 | 28 | #337 | 0.26 |
| 1881 | 24 | #327 | 0.26 |
| 1880 | 18 | #391 | 0.20 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dona a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dona has been given almost only to girls: 175 boys in 139 years of records.
Girls and boys named Dona: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dona, and how old are they?
9,170 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 48% of the 19,032 Americans ever recorded as Dona. The median Dona alive today is 71 years old; half are between 62 and 78.
The 2020 Census counted 12,121 people named Dona (11,993 women and girls, 128 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,939 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,740 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 5,210 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,580 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 398 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 167 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 52 |
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 Dona born?
The states with the most babies named Dona are California, New York and Texas, with 25% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,562 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| New York | 929 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 904 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 884 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 872 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 780 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 656 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Wisconsin | 474 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Oklahoma | 462 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Missouri | 418 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Dona is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dona is most over-represented in Nebraska: since 1910 it was given 1.7 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 girls’ 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 Dona 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 859,238 babies since 1880, Dona is the second most given (2.2% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5 of their 121 babies (4.1%), the third most given that year.
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 Dona
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 Dona and names like it
- Compare Dona and DonnaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDona peaked in 1954.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dona since 1910.
- The top names of 1954The year the most babies were named Dona.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dona alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.