Donella
Donella was given to 5 girls in 2025, #15,528 among girls’ names; 1,823 Americans have been recorded with it since 1910 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,260 Americans named Donella and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (69% of everyone recorded); the median is 58 years old and half are between 49 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Donella by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Donella?
#15,528 among girls’ names, 2025
Donella entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #15,528 in 2025.
51 babies in 1952, the peak
Donella peaked in 1952, when 51 girls were given it, #1,355 among girls’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #15,528 | 3.1 |
| 2018 | 6 | #14,278 | 3.5 |
| 2008 | 6 | #15,947 | 3.2 |
| 1998 | 5 | #14,807 | 2.8 |
| 1996 | 7 | #10,885 | 4.0 |
| 1995 | 6 | #12,191 | 3.4 |
| 1994 | 8 | #9,820 | 4.5 |
| 1992 | 13 | #6,748 | 7.1 |
| 1991 | 17 | #5,476 | 9.1 |
| 1990 | 13 | #6,566 | 6.8 |
Every recorded year (87)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 12 | #6,648 | 6.5 |
| 1988 | 16 | #5,119 | 9.0 |
| 1987 | 19 | #4,335 | 10.9 |
| 1986 | 21 | #3,916 | 12.2 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,146 | 6.4 |
| 1984 | 23 | #3,540 | 13.7 |
| 1983 | 19 | #3,983 | 11.4 |
| 1982 | 21 | #3,809 | 12.4 |
| 1981 | 21 | #3,764 | 12.6 |
| 1980 | 20 | #3,881 | 12.0 |
| 1979 | 25 | #3,267 | 15.6 |
| 1978 | 23 | #3,308 | 15.0 |
| 1977 | 27 | #2,928 | 17.6 |
| 1976 | 17 | #3,845 | 11.6 |
| 1975 | 21 | #3,305 | 14.4 |
| 1974 | 43 | #1,966 | 29.3 |
| 1973 | 42 | #1,949 | 28.8 |
| 1972 | 43 | #1,929 | 28.3 |
| 1971 | 41 | #2,040 | 24.6 |
| 1970 | 51 | #1,764 | 29.2 |
| 1969 | 48 | #1,759 | 28.5 |
| 1968 | 40 | #1,893 | 24.4 |
| 1967 | 42 | #1,790 | 25.4 |
| 1966 | 22 | #2,603 | 13.0 |
| 1965 | 19 | #2,860 | 10.8 |
| 1964 | 18 | #3,026 | 9.5 |
| 1963 | 36 | #1,958 | 18.7 |
| 1962 | 27 | #2,324 | 13.7 |
| 1961 | 26 | #2,377 | 12.9 |
| 1960 | 27 | #2,257 | 13.4 |
| 1959 | 32 | #1,994 | 15.8 |
| 1958 | 14 | #3,266 | 7.0 |
| 1957 | 28 | #2,077 | 13.7 |
| 1956 | 24 | #2,268 | 12.0 |
| 1955 | 25 | #2,169 | 12.8 |
| 1954 | 31 | #1,883 | 16.0 |
| 1953 | 31 | #1,791 | 16.5 |
| 1952 | 51 | #1,355 | 27.5 |
| 1951 | 29 | #1,811 | 16.1 |
| 1950 | 47 | #1,335 | 27.4 |
| 1949 | 41 | #1,438 | 24.0 |
| 1948 | 29 | #1,751 | 17.1 |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,766 | 16.9 |
| 1946 | 31 | #1,593 | 19.7 |
| 1945 | 19 | #1,947 | 14.5 |
| 1944 | 23 | #1,757 | 17.3 |
| 1943 | 19 | #2,009 | 13.6 |
| 1942 | 17 | #2,138 | 12.6 |
| 1941 | 18 | #1,966 | 14.9 |
| 1940 | 17 | #1,980 | 14.9 |
| 1939 | 13 | #2,326 | 11.9 |
| 1938 | 16 | #2,041 | 14.5 |
| 1937 | 17 | #1,940 | 16.0 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,298 | 12.5 |
| 1935 | 13 | #2,334 | 12.4 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,787 | 9.6 |
| 1933 | 13 | #2,303 | 12.9 |
| 1932 | 14 | #2,265 | 13.1 |
| 1931 | 19 | #1,814 | 17.8 |
| 1930 | 18 | #1,958 | 16.0 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,340 | 12.5 |
| 1928 | 14 | #2,410 | 12.1 |
| 1927 | 18 | #2,116 | 15.1 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,743 | 10.1 |
| 1925 | 21 | #1,907 | 17.3 |
| 1924 | 15 | #2,432 | 12.0 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,386 | 12.4 |
| 1922 | 23 | #1,799 | 19.2 |
| 1921 | 20 | #1,999 | 16.2 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,396 | 7.5 |
| 1919 | 10 | #3,056 | 8.8 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,011 | 4.3 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,425 | 7.4 |
| 1916 | 8 | #3,336 | 7.7 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,426 | 12.2 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,757 | 6.6 |
| 1910 | 5 | #2,506 | 12.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Donella a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Donella has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 87 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Donella: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Donella, and how old are they?
1,260 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 69% of the 1,823 Americans ever recorded as Donella. The median Donella alive today is 58 years old; half are between 49 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 1,299 people named Donella (1,290 women and girls, 9 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,371 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 90 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 442 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 485 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 220 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 11 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 11 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 6,605 babies since 1880, Donella is the second most given (28% of them).
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 Donella
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 Donella and names like it
- Compare Donella and DonielleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDonella peaked in 1952.
- South Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Donella since 1910.
- The top names of 1952The year the most babies were named Donella.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Donella alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.