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NameAlmanac

Donald

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Donald was given to 395 boys in 2025, #690 among boys’ names; 1,420,387 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 632,000 Americans named Donald and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (45% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 55 and 76.

Donald is the #38 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.

Babies named Donald each year, first recorded in 1880
Donald, 1880-2025; highest in 1934.10k20k30k40k188019001920194019601980200020251934 peak: 30,518
Donald, 1880-2025; highest in 1934.10k20k30k40k188019001920194019601980200020251934 peak: 30,518
Donald, 1880-2025; highest in 1934.10k20k30k40k18801905193019551980200520251934 peak: 30,518
Donald, 1880-2025; highest in 1934.10k20k30k40k18801930198020251934 peak: 30,518

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Donald or DonoldNames of the 1930sNames in New York

Births of Donald by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Donald mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Donald is “a male given name from Scottish Gaelic.” Its etymology gives the sense “prince / chief of the world” (*Dubnowalos).

Name of Scottish kings and an early saint, from Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall and reinforced by Medieval Latin Donvaldus ~ Donaldus, from Old Irish Domnall, from Proto-Celtic *Dubnowalos (“prince / chief of the world”). Doublet of Domhnall.

/ˈdɑn.əld/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Donald (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Donald?

#690 among boys’ names, 2025

Donald fell from #440 in 2015 to #690 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.36 to 0.23 per 1,000.

30,518 babies in 1934, the peak

Donald peaked in 1934, when 30,518 babies were given it (30,408 boys, #6 among boys’ names). The 395 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.

Donald by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
2025395#6900.23
2024408#6730.24
2023415#6590.24
2022403#6770.23
2021468#5960.27
2020450#6090.26
2019513#5490.29
2018541#5240.30
2017603#4860.33
2016625#4890.33
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
2015696#4400.36
2014738#4190.38
2013711#4150.38
2012729#4000.38
2011788#3770.41
2010765#3770.40
2009839#3630.42
2008992#3330.49
2007999#3210.48
20061,098#3030.53
20051,150#2890.58
20041,251#2630.63
20031,308#2530.66
20021,289#2520.66
20011,470#2310.76
20001,609#2170.82
19991,747#1920.91
19981,862#1801.0
19971,970#1731.0
19962,184#1581.2
19952,252#1551.2
19942,652#1321.4
19932,996#1181.5
19923,266#1101.6
19913,650#1021.8
19904,177#872.0
19894,323#822.2
19884,328#762.3
19874,501#702.4
19864,661#712.5
19854,750#662.6
19845,062#632.8
19835,327#603.0
19825,712#583.1
19815,910#563.3
19806,269#533.5
19796,508#513.8
19786,423#483.9
19776,866#464.2
19766,792#474.3
19757,197#424.6
19747,758#414.9
19738,361#385.4
19729,261#365.7
197110,872#346.1
197012,397#306.7
196912,775#307.1
196813,362#297.7
196714,226#278.2
196614,713#278.2
196516,033#268.6
196418,045#259.1
196318,896#259.3
196220,425#239.9
196121,409#2210.1
196022,744#1910.7
195923,876#1911.2
195825,015#1811.8
195727,910#1512.9
195628,223#1413.3
195527,726#1413.5
195429,279#1414.4
195328,361#1414.4
195228,269#1314.5
195127,916#1514.8
195026,999#1415.1
194927,121#1315.3
194826,442#1415.1
194728,260#1315.4
194626,273#1316.2
194522,138#1216.4
194423,468#1117.2
194324,421#1117.1
194223,955#1017.3
194122,641#1018.4
194023,115#919.9
193924,056#821.7
193826,677#724.1
193727,868#726.1
193628,639#727.6
193529,674#728.5
193430,408#629.4
193328,450#728.7
193229,794#728.5
193129,100#728.0
193029,052#726.5
192927,181#725.3
192825,704#723.2
192723,834#821.1
192620,912#918.8
192519,193#1017.2
192417,929#1015.8
192316,433#1015.0
192214,913#1213.7
192113,776#1312.5
192011,941#1611.2
19199,904#1710.1
19189,972#189.8
19178,729#209.4
19167,736#208.7
19157,116#208.4
19144,835#237.4
19133,702#257.2
19122,872#276.7
19111,275#365.6
1910860#444.4
1909725#424.4
1908664#454.3
1907616#444.2
1906486#513.6
1905425#593.2
1904413#583.2
1903359#603.0
1902366#633.0
1901250#772.3
1900328#792.2
1899258#742.4
1898238#881.9
1897195#921.7
1896211#941.8
1895203#961.7
1894169#1061.5
1893166#1051.5
1892137#1231.1
1891100#1361.0
1890109#1311.0
188975#1800.68
188877#1950.64
188760#1980.59
188657#2240.51
188547#2420.44
188459#2160.52
188352#2090.50
188248#2420.42
188127#3150.27
188046#2460.42

Download Donald’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Donald a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Donald has been given almost only to boys: 5,563 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Donald: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Donald, and how old are they?

632,000 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 45% of the 1,420,387 Americans ever recorded as Donald. The median Donald alive today is 67 years old; half are between 55 and 76.

The 2020 Census counted 715,624 people named Donald (768 women and girls, 714,856 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 759,505 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.

Alive today, by age

100-109327
90-9919,800
80-8979,500
70-79168,000
60-69 (median)159,000
50-5990,000
40-4953,400
30-3932,800
20-2914,400
10-197,810
0-94,170

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-194587,100
Baby Boomers1946-1964315,000
Generation X1965-1980140,000
Millennials1981-199662,600
Generation Z1997-201219,500
Generation Alpha2013-20256,910

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 Donald born?

The states with the most babies named Donald are New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with 22% of its births recorded by state since 1910.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateSince 1910Rank, boysvs. national
New York105,498#6990.8×
Pennsylvania102,386#5321.1×
Ohio95,818#5821.3×
Illinois90,596#6501.2×
California85,734#8860.9×
Michigan77,185#7321.3×
Texas52,653#7960.6×
Indiana46,879#5531.3×
Missouri43,148#5681.2×
Wisconsin42,679not ranked1.2×

Where Donald is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Donald is most over-represented in Nebraska: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Nebraska1.36×
Iowa1.34×
South Dakota1.33×
Ohio1.30×
Michigan1.27×
Indiana1.25×
Wisconsin1.24×
Minnesota1.23×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

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 Donald 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 1,421,601 babies since 1880, Donald is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 395 of their 395 babies (100%), again the most given.

Donald and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Donald1,420,3873951934
Donold828under 51934
Donnald386under 51954

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 Donald

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Gene133,874
Don168,839
Gerald451,351
Billy389,665

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 Donald and names like it

  1. Compare Donald and DonoldBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1930sDonald peaked in 1934.
  3. New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Donald since 1910.
  4. Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Donald: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 1934The year the most babies were named Donald.
  6. The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Donald alive today were born 1946-1964.
  7. Names starting with DMost given first.

Compare Donald with another name