Donelle
Donelle was last recorded in 2019, when 7 babies were given it; 1,450 Americans have been recorded with it between 1922 and 2019 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,310 Americans named Donelle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 50 years old and half are between 40 and 59.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Donelle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Donelle?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,321, in 2007; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
48 babies in 1979, the peak
Donelle peaked in 1979, when 48 babies were given it (28 girls, #3,014 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | under 5 | 7 | #10,010 | |
| 2007 | 7 | #14,321 | 9 | #8,358 |
| 2006 | under 5 | 11 | #7,043 | |
| 2005 | under 5 | 7 | #9,381 | |
| 2004 | under 5 | 9 | #7,699 | |
| 2003 | under 5 | 7 | #8,902 | |
| 2002 | 5 | #16,152 | 6 | #9,697 |
| 2000 | 5 | #15,737 | 7 | #8,436 |
| 1999 | under 5 | 7 | #8,089 | |
| 1998 | 13 | #7,217 | 6 | #8,774 |
Every recorded year (66)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 12 | #7,407 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 11 | #7,732 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 9 | #8,967 | 6 | #8,078 |
| 1993 | 9 | #8,927 | 8 | #6,368 |
| 1992 | 12 | #7,163 | 8 | #6,275 |
| 1991 | 8 | #9,569 | 11 | #4,848 |
| 1990 | 16 | #5,620 | 15 | #3,823 |
| 1989 | 16 | #5,357 | 16 | #3,495 |
| 1988 | 31 | #3,171 | 10 | #4,526 |
| 1987 | 19 | #4,336 | 6 | #6,321 |
| 1986 | 22 | #3,784 | 12 | #3,698 |
| 1985 | 21 | #3,886 | 9 | #4,418 |
| 1984 | 22 | #3,637 | 14 | #3,139 |
| 1983 | 15 | #4,731 | 11 | #3,685 |
| 1982 | 18 | #4,211 | 12 | #3,533 |
| 1981 | 29 | #3,006 | 16 | #2,807 |
| 1980 | 22 | #3,639 | 12 | #3,471 |
| 1979 | 28 | #3,014 | 20 | #2,402 |
| 1978 | 20 | #3,666 | 12 | #3,260 |
| 1977 | 27 | #2,929 | 6 | #5,316 |
| 1976 | 34 | #2,400 | 5 | #5,830 |
| 1975 | 31 | #2,528 | 7 | #4,451 |
| 1974 | 30 | #2,513 | 5 | #5,431 |
| 1973 | 40 | #2,031 | 6 | #4,650 |
| 1972 | 31 | #2,363 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 32 | #2,387 | 9 | #3,434 |
| 1970 | 42 | #1,988 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 30 | #2,364 | 6 | #4,069 |
| 1968 | 39 | #1,920 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 36 | #1,955 | 5 | #4,115 |
| 1966 | 21 | #2,692 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 26 | #2,360 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 28 | #2,318 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 19 | #2,892 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 28 | #2,273 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 18 | #2,983 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 18 | #2,924 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 20 | #2,616 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 12 | #3,593 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 21 | #2,504 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 19 | #2,652 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 21 | #2,422 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 10 | #3,782 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 22 | #2,250 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 16 | #2,706 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,327 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 13 | #2,941 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 8 | #3,972 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 7 | #4,293 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,507 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 11 | #3,077 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 5 | #4,735 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | 6 | #4,303 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,512 | under 5 | |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,571 | under 5 | |
| 1922 | 7 | #4,109 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Donelle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,450 Americans recorded as Donelle, 78% are girls and 22% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Donelle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Donelle, and how old are they?
1,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 1,450 Americans ever recorded as Donelle. The median Donelle alive today is 50 years old; half are between 40 and 59.
The 2020 Census counted 1,304 people named Donelle (1,033 women and girls, 271 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,346 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 12 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 245 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 537 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 396 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 109 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 7 |
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 8 names spelled alike, given to 7,444 babies since 1880, Donelle is the third most given (19% 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 Donelle
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 Donelle and names like it
- Compare Donelle and DonielleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sDonelle peaked in 1979.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Donelle since 1910.
- The top names of 1979The year the most babies were named Donelle.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Donelle alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.