Donn
Donn was last recorded in 2024, when 5 babies were given it; 6,615 Americans have been recorded with it between 1912 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,480 Americans named Donn and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (53% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 58 and 75.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Donn by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Donn mean?
Wiktionary, Irish section
Donn is “a male given name” Its etymology gives the sense “noble, prince” (donn).
From donn (“noble, prince”), from Old Irish, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰus-no-.
Meaning: Wiktionary, Irish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Donn?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,802, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
341 babies in 1949, the peak
Donn peaked in 1949, when 341 boys were given it, #366 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 5 | #12,802 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 5 | #12,705 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 8 | #9,092 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 6 | #11,083 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 5 | #12,558 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #12,630 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 6 | #11,297 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 6 | #11,017 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 6 | #10,444 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 6 | #9,698 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (100)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 5 | #11,033 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 17 | #4,437 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 5 | #10,345 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 10 | #5,935 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 11 | #5,373 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 9 | #6,120 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 6 | #8,079 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #8,044 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 6 | #7,894 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 7 | #6,876 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 10 | #5,196 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 15 | #3,824 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 18 | #3,231 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 22 | #2,628 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 24 | #2,346 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 19 | #2,707 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 19 | #2,622 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 16 | #2,853 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 21 | #2,354 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 14 | #3,161 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 24 | #2,148 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 30 | #1,870 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 29 | #1,877 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 23 | #2,087 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 32 | #1,680 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 39 | #1,432 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 42 | #1,348 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 37 | #1,422 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 50 | #1,168 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 63 | #1,017 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 58 | #1,071 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 85 | #878 | 0.05 |
| 1969 | 82 | #849 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 88 | #789 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 85 | #792 | 0.05 |
| 1966 | 73 | #849 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 70 | #875 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 113 | #723 | 0.06 |
| 1963 | 97 | #774 | 0.05 |
| 1962 | 103 | #752 | 0.05 |
| 1961 | 112 | #725 | 0.05 |
| 1960 | 141 | #656 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 149 | #633 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 156 | #614 | 0.07 |
| 1957 | 171 | #586 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 147 | #627 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 193 | #527 | 0.09 |
| 1954 | 168 | #565 | 0.08 |
| 1953 | 190 | #509 | 0.10 |
| 1952 | 182 | #516 | 0.09 |
| 1951 | 216 | #462 | 0.11 |
| 1950 | 250 | #423 | 0.14 |
| 1949 | 341 | #366 | 0.19 |
| 1948 | 157 | #529 | 0.09 |
| 1947 | 121 | #619 | 0.07 |
| 1946 | 131 | #559 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 102 | #599 | 0.08 |
| 1944 | 92 | #645 | 0.07 |
| 1943 | 83 | #704 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 97 | #647 | 0.07 |
| 1941 | 85 | #663 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 85 | #655 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 80 | #663 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 86 | #646 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 70 | #723 | 0.07 |
| 1936 | 66 | #742 | 0.06 |
| 1935 | 75 | #698 | 0.07 |
| 1934 | 96 | #603 | 0.09 |
| 1933 | 87 | #619 | 0.09 |
| 1932 | 92 | #621 | 0.09 |
| 1931 | 72 | #723 | 0.07 |
| 1930 | 103 | #601 | 0.09 |
| 1929 | 122 | #529 | 0.11 |
| 1928 | 96 | #631 | 0.09 |
| 1927 | 93 | #661 | 0.08 |
| 1926 | 93 | #654 | 0.08 |
| 1925 | 66 | #819 | 0.06 |
| 1924 | 51 | #985 | 0.05 |
| 1923 | 45 | #1,061 | 0.04 |
| 1922 | 40 | #1,123 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 38 | #1,167 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 27 | #1,429 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 16 | #1,994 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 26 | #1,412 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 26 | #1,372 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,425 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 19 | #1,618 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 14 | #1,705 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,514 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,092 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Donn a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Donn has been given almost only to boys: 62 girls in 100 years of records.
Girls and boys named Donn: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Donn, and how old are they?
3,480 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 53% of the 6,615 Americans ever recorded as Donn. The median Donn alive today is 68 years old; half are between 58 and 75.
The 2020 Census counted 5,036 people named Donn (545 women and girls, 4,491 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,064 born in the U.S. The Census count is 24% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Donn rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 304 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,050 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 799 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 223 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 70 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 34 |
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 Donn born?
The states with the most babies named Donn are California, Ohio and Illinois, with 42% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 690 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 495 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 346 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 289 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 283 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Minnesota | 254 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 230 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Wisconsin | 223 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Indiana | 185 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Washington | 137 | not ranked | 1.4× |
Where Donn is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Donn is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1912 it was given 1.8 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 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 Donn 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 175,606 babies since 1880, Donn is the second most given (3.8% of them). In 2025 none of their 89 babies recorded by SSA was a Donn (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 Donn
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 Donn and names like it
- Compare Donn and DonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sDonn peaked in 1949.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Donn since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Donn: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1949The year the most babies were named Donn.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Donn alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.