Donel
Donel was last recorded in 2014, when 6 babies were given it; 721 Americans have been recorded with it between 1916 and 2014 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Donel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Donel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #11,081, in 2014; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
23 babies in 1970, the peak
Donel peaked in 1970, when 23 babies were given it (18 boys, #2,145 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 6 | #11,081 | 3.1 |
| 2011 | 5 | #12,783 | 2.6 |
| 2010 | 5 | #12,764 | 2.6 |
| 2007 | 8 | #9,115 | 3.9 |
| 2000 | 8 | #7,627 | 4.1 |
| 1997 | 6 | #8,419 | 3.2 |
| 1996 | 6 | #8,221 | 3.2 |
| 1995 | 11 | #5,224 | 5.8 |
| 1994 | 10 | #5,559 | 5.2 |
| 1992 | 8 | #6,274 | 4.0 |
Every recorded year (78)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 8 | #6,096 | 4.0 |
| 1990 | 8 | #5,987 | 3.9 |
| 1989 | 6 | #7,225 | 3.0 |
| 1988 | 8 | #5,321 | 4.2 |
| 1987 | 5 | #7,250 | 2.7 |
| 1986 | 8 | #4,982 | 4.3 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,298 | 3.8 |
| 1984 | 6 | #5,768 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,169 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,081 | 3.9 |
| 1980 | 8 | #4,610 | 4.5 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,540 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 9 | #3,945 | 5.5 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,315 | 3.7 |
| 1976 | 10 | #3,545 | 6.4 |
| 1975 | 8 | #4,047 | 5.1 |
| 1974 | 10 | #3,387 | 6.4 |
| 1973 | 13 | #2,750 | 8.3 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,173 | 3.1 |
| 1971 | 6 | #4,541 | 3.4 |
| 1970 | 18 | #2,145 | 9.7 |
| 1969 | 6 | #4,068 | 3.4 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,479 | 6.9 |
| 1966 | 16 | #1,984 | 9.0 |
| 1965 | 7 | #3,326 | 3.8 |
| 1964 | 12 | #2,448 | 6.0 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,118 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 13 | #2,301 | 6.3 |
| 1961 | 7 | #3,437 | 3.3 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,426 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 13 | #2,327 | 6.1 |
| 1957 | 13 | #2,297 | 6.0 |
| 1956 | 12 | #2,400 | 5.7 |
| 1955 | 14 | #2,162 | 6.8 |
| 1954 | 14 | #2,138 | 6.9 |
| 1953 | 8 | #2,972 | 4.1 |
| 1952 | 8 | #2,930 | 4.1 |
| 1951 | 5 | #3,845 | 2.7 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,625 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 8 | #2,849 | 4.5 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,539 | 5.5 |
| 1946 | 9 | #2,575 | 5.5 |
| 1945 | 10 | #2,286 | 7.4 |
| 1944 | 14 | #1,907 | 10.3 |
| 1943 | 10 | #2,444 | 7.0 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,176 | 8.7 |
| 1941 | 5 | #3,631 | 4.1 |
| 1940 | 14 | #1,922 | 12.1 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,206 | 5.4 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,367 | 9.0 |
| 1937 | 15 | #1,848 | 14.1 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,490 | 8.7 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,581 | 8.6 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,380 | 5.8 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,122 | 12.1 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,125 | 12.5 |
| 1931 | 9 | #2,704 | 8.7 |
| 1930 | 14 | #2,102 | 12.8 |
| 1929 | 9 | #2,812 | 8.4 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,445 | 6.3 |
| 1927 | 10 | #2,752 | 8.9 |
| 1926 | 7 | #3,469 | 6.3 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,584 | 6.2 |
| 1921 | 6 | #3,975 | 5.4 |
| 1920 | 6 | #3,936 | 5.6 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,494 | 7.1 |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,333 | 4.9 |
| 1916 | 6 | #3,600 | 6.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Donel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 721 Americans recorded as Donel, 4% are girls and 96% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Donel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Donel, and how old are they?
An estimated 438 Americans named Donel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (61% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 40 and 67. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 600 people named Donel (112 women and girls, 488 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 490 born in the U.S. The Census count is 22% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Donel rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
How common is the spelling Donel?
Donel is a less common spelling of Donnell: SSA has recorded 721 Donel and 15,305 Donnell since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 27,356 babies since 1880, Donel is the sixth most given (2.6% of them). In 2025 none of their 44 babies recorded by SSA was a Donel (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Donel
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 Donel and names like it
- Compare Donel and DonnellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sDonel peaked in 1970.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Donel.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Donel alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.