Donnell
Donnell was given to 26 boys in 2025, #4,066 among boys’ names; 15,305 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 12,600 Americans named Donnell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (82% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 33 and 59.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Donnell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Donnell?
#4,066 among boys’ names, 2025
Donnell fell from #1,878 in 2015 to #4,066 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 40.7 to 15.2 per million.
307 babies in 1970, the peak
Donnell peaked in 1970, when 307 babies were given it (271 boys, #492 among boys’ names). The 26 births of 2025 are 8% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26 | #4,066 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 22 | #4,593 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 23 | #4,490 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 32 | #3,556 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 29 | #3,755 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 46 | #2,699 | 0.03 |
| 2019 | 34 | #3,368 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 60 | #2,271 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 51 | #2,498 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 75 | #1,944 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 78 | #1,878 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 89 | #1,703 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 82 | #1,768 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 88 | #1,714 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 75 | #1,874 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 105 | #1,538 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 79 | #1,854 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 125 | #1,366 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 135 | #1,291 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 139 | #1,205 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 110 | #1,365 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 134 | #1,164 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 107 | #1,305 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 123 | #1,154 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 155 | #987 | 0.08 |
| 2000 | 149 | #992 | 0.08 |
| 1999 | 135 | #1,026 | 0.07 |
| 1998 | 131 | #1,030 | 0.07 |
| 1997 | 159 | #872 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 165 | #846 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 171 | #818 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 197 | #745 | 0.10 |
| 1993 | 195 | #747 | 0.10 |
| 1992 | 203 | #724 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 207 | #700 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 239 | #651 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 249 | #630 | 0.12 |
| 1988 | 239 | #614 | 0.12 |
| 1987 | 220 | #611 | 0.12 |
| 1986 | 206 | #623 | 0.11 |
| 1985 | 217 | #593 | 0.12 |
| 1984 | 259 | #534 | 0.14 |
| 1983 | 218 | #572 | 0.12 |
| 1982 | 290 | #498 | 0.16 |
| 1981 | 260 | #523 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 271 | #517 | 0.15 |
| 1979 | 249 | #539 | 0.14 |
| 1978 | 205 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1977 | 227 | #552 | 0.14 |
| 1976 | 254 | #505 | 0.16 |
| 1975 | 269 | #488 | 0.17 |
| 1974 | 265 | #494 | 0.17 |
| 1973 | 256 | #486 | 0.16 |
| 1972 | 238 | #508 | 0.15 |
| 1971 | 268 | #492 | 0.15 |
| 1970 | 271 | #492 | 0.15 |
| 1969 | 254 | #482 | 0.14 |
| 1968 | 248 | #479 | 0.14 |
| 1967 | 243 | #482 | 0.14 |
| 1966 | 220 | #510 | 0.12 |
| 1965 | 214 | #524 | 0.12 |
| 1964 | 240 | #506 | 0.12 |
| 1963 | 214 | #540 | 0.11 |
| 1962 | 263 | #488 | 0.13 |
| 1961 | 205 | #552 | 0.10 |
| 1960 | 225 | #527 | 0.11 |
| 1959 | 209 | #541 | 0.10 |
| 1958 | 217 | #522 | 0.10 |
| 1957 | 195 | #553 | 0.09 |
| 1956 | 205 | #522 | 0.10 |
| 1955 | 171 | #563 | 0.08 |
| 1954 | 150 | #603 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 162 | #555 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 150 | #570 | 0.08 |
| 1951 | 134 | #601 | 0.07 |
| 1950 | 143 | #564 | 0.08 |
| 1949 | 90 | #722 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 85 | #729 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 76 | #789 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 62 | #840 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 50 | #904 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 50 | #899 | 0.04 |
| 1943 | 41 | #1,062 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 55 | #890 | 0.04 |
| 1941 | 56 | #848 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 42 | #997 | 0.04 |
| 1939 | 36 | #1,071 | 0.03 |
| 1938 | 34 | #1,114 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 37 | #1,059 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 40 | #994 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 38 | #1,044 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 39 | #1,042 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 23 | #1,416 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 36 | #1,128 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 36 | #1,135 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 41 | #1,083 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 30 | #1,300 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 32 | #1,276 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 24 | #1,569 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 32 | #1,283 | 0.03 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,642 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 22 | #1,689 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 23 | #1,610 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 17 | #1,971 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 27 | #1,459 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,158 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 15 | #2,083 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,091 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,543 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,255 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 15 | #1,896 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 11 | #2,002 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 10 | #1,837 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,093 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Donnell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 15,305 Americans recorded as Donnell, 7% are girls and 93% boys. In 2025 it went to 26 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Donnell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Donnell, and how old are they?
12,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 82% of the 15,305 Americans ever recorded as Donnell. The median Donnell alive today is 47 years old; half are between 33 and 59.
The 2020 Census counted 9,239 people named Donnell (718 women and girls, 8,521 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 13,063 born in the U.S. The Census count is 29% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 189 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,520 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,870 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,470 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,920 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 642 |
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 Donnell born?
The states with the most babies named Donnell are New York, Illinois and California, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 1,145 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 949 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| California | 911 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Maryland | 866 | not ranked | 3.4× |
| North Carolina | 819 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| District of Columbia | 707 | not ranked | 7.6× |
| Florida | 684 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Texas | 658 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Virginia | 589 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Missouri | 552 | not ranked | 1.6× |
Where Donnell is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Donnell is most over-represented in District of Columbia: since 1912 it was given 7.6 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 Donnell 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 23,644 babies since 1880, Donnell is the most given (65% of them). In 2025 it was given to 26 of their 44 babies (59%), again the most given.
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 Donnell
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 Donnell and names like it
- Compare Donnell and DonellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sDonnell peaked in 1970.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Donnell since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Donnell.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Donnell alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.