Donnel
Donnel was last recorded in 2017, when 6 babies were given it; 823 Americans have been recorded with it between 1922 and 2017 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Donnel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Donnel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #11,118, in 2017; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
25 babies in 1968, the peak
Donnel peaked in 1968, when 25 babies were given it (18 boys, #1,910 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 6 | #11,118 | 3.2 |
| 2014 | 7 | #9,911 | 3.6 |
| 2013 | 10 | #7,668 | 5.3 |
| 2012 | 6 | #11,161 | 3.2 |
| 2011 | 5 | #12,785 | 2.6 |
| 2010 | 5 | #12,766 | 2.6 |
| 2009 | 8 | #9,203 | 4.0 |
| 2007 | 7 | #10,037 | 3.4 |
| 2005 | 5 | #11,916 | 2.5 |
| 2004 | 6 | #10,316 | 3.0 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 5 | #11,352 | 2.5 |
| 2002 | 8 | #7,845 | 4.1 |
| 2000 | 7 | #8,438 | 3.6 |
| 1999 | 5 | #10,347 | 2.6 |
| 1998 | 7 | #7,801 | 3.7 |
| 1997 | 14 | #4,508 | 7.4 |
| 1996 | 9 | #6,121 | 4.8 |
| 1995 | 8 | #6,547 | 4.2 |
| 1994 | 12 | #4,867 | 6.2 |
| 1993 | 8 | #6,369 | 4.1 |
| 1992 | 13 | #4,385 | 6.5 |
| 1991 | 10 | #5,198 | 4.9 |
| 1990 | 12 | #4,471 | 5.8 |
| 1989 | 13 | #4,086 | 6.5 |
| 1988 | 8 | #5,323 | 4.2 |
| 1987 | 14 | #3,380 | 7.5 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,137 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 9 | #4,419 | 4.9 |
| 1984 | 11 | #3,768 | 6.1 |
| 1983 | 15 | #2,957 | 8.4 |
| 1982 | 19 | #2,533 | 10.5 |
| 1981 | 12 | #3,470 | 6.7 |
| 1980 | 20 | #2,464 | 11.2 |
| 1979 | 10 | #3,881 | 5.8 |
| 1978 | 17 | #2,591 | 10.4 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,107 | 3.0 |
| 1976 | 15 | #2,737 | 9.6 |
| 1975 | 14 | #2,790 | 9.0 |
| 1974 | 19 | #2,212 | 12.1 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,275 | 6.4 |
| 1972 | 16 | #2,353 | 9.9 |
| 1971 | 16 | #2,396 | 9.0 |
| 1970 | 8 | #3,595 | 4.3 |
| 1969 | 7 | #3,689 | 3.9 |
| 1968 | 18 | #1,910 | 10.4 |
| 1967 | 11 | #2,512 | 6.3 |
| 1966 | 13 | #2,252 | 7.3 |
| 1965 | 10 | #2,660 | 5.4 |
| 1964 | 17 | #1,993 | 8.5 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,119 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 9 | #2,900 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 14 | #2,270 | 6.6 |
| 1960 | 11 | #2,574 | 5.2 |
| 1959 | 11 | #2,568 | 5.2 |
| 1958 | 15 | #2,117 | 7.1 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,879 | 4.2 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,626 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 13 | #2,233 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 9 | #2,726 | 4.6 |
| 1951 | 7 | #3,141 | 3.7 |
| 1950 | 8 | #2,830 | 4.5 |
| 1946 | 6 | #3,261 | 3.7 |
| 1945 | 9 | #2,438 | 6.7 |
| 1944 | 7 | #2,933 | 5.1 |
| 1943 | 8 | #2,788 | 5.6 |
| 1942 | 8 | #2,763 | 5.8 |
| 1941 | 9 | #2,527 | 7.3 |
| 1940 | 6 | #3,218 | 5.2 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,226 | 9.9 |
| 1937 | 11 | #2,237 | 10.3 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,491 | 8.7 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,033 | 6.7 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,381 | 5.8 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,409 | 10.1 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,149 | 7.2 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,349 | 4.4 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,370 | 4.5 |
| 1923 | 6 | #3,926 | 5.5 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,466 | 4.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Donnel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 823 Americans recorded as Donnel, 6% are girls and 94% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Donnel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Donnel, and how old are they?
An estimated 635 Americans named Donnel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (77% of everyone recorded); the median is 48 years old and half are between 35 and 60. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 683 people named Donnel (108 women and girls, 575 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 675 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
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 Donnel?
Donnel is a less common spelling of Donnell: SSA has recorded 823 Donnel and 15,305 Donnell since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 27,356 babies since 1880, Donnel is the fifth most given (3.0% of them). In 2025 none of their 44 babies recorded by SSA was a Donnel (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 Donnel
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 Donnel and names like it
- Compare Donnel and DonnellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sDonnel peaked in 1968.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Donnel since 1910.
- The top names of 1968The year the most babies were named Donnel.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Donnel alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.