Donnell
Anglicized form of the Irish name Domhnall, meaning "world ruler" or "world mighty".
Name Census estimates that about 13,011 living Americans carry the first name Donnell. It is a predominantly male name (93.3% of registrations). The average person named Donnell today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donnell births was 1970 (307 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donnell. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Donnell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,343 Americans
Peak year
1970
307 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,586
Tracked since 1912
Census
Donnell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,247 people with the first name Donnell, which placed it at #2,597 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,597
National first-name rank
People counted
9.2K
9,247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
80.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donnell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnell is Black at 80.8%. The next largest groups are White (11.6%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Donnell described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Donnell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American80.8% · 7,471
- White11.6% · 1,070
- Two or more races4.0% · 373
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 242
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 51
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 40
Gender
Gender distribution for Donnell
Donnell leans heavily male at 93.3% of total registrations, but 1,026 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Donnell as a male name
- Ranked #4,586 in 2024
- 22 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (290 births)
Donnell as a female name
- Ranked #17,899 in 2006
- 5 female births in 2006
- Peak: 1969 (49 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donnell leans strongly male. 8,521 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 718 female bearers (7.8%).
Popularity
Donnell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donnell from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,750 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donnell by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Donnell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donnells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. New York, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Donnell, while Wisconsin, Kansas, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 405 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Donnell
The name Donnell is derived from the Gaelic personal name Domhnall, which is composed of the elements domhnu, meaning "world," and val, meaning "ruler" or "prince." It originated in Ireland and Scotland, where it was a popular name among the Gaelic dynasties.
Domhnall was the name of several Irish kings and princes in the medieval period, including Domhnall Ua Néill, the King of Ailech and Cenél nEógain in the late 10th century, and Domhnall Mac Raghnaill, the King of Dublin in the 11th century. The name was also borne by Scottish kings, such as Domnall II, the King of Scots from 889 to 900.
The earliest recorded instances of the Anglicized spelling "Donnell" date back to the 16th century, when it was used as a variant of the Gaelic name Domhnall. Notable historical figures with this name include Donnell Balloch, a 16th-century Scottish clan chief and military leader, and Donnell O'Cahan, an Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Cahan clan in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Other notable individuals named Donnell throughout history include:
1. Donnell Gault (1616-1678), a Scottish soldier and military officer who fought for the Royalist cause during the English Civil War.
2. Donnell Mackey (1616-1695), an Irish Catholic priest and theologian who served as the Bishop of Cork and Cloyne.
3. Donnell Sampson (1790-1864), an Irish-born soldier who served in the British Army and fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
4. Donnell Deeny (1846-1929), an Irish politician and Member of Parliament for East Mayo from 1900 to 1918.
5. Donnell Woolford (born 1967), an American former professional football player who played as a cornerback in the National Football League.
While the name Donnell has roots in Gaelic culture and history, it has been adopted and used widely across various regions and cultures over the centuries.
People
Donnell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donnell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Donnell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donnell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,011 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donnell going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 26,343 US residents.
Is Donnell a common name?
We classify Donnell as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,279 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donnell most popular?
The single biggest year for Donnell was 1970, when 307 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donnell is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donnell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,247 people with the name Donnell, or 3.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,597 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Donnell in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Donnell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donnell leans strongly male. 8,521 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 718 female bearers (7.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Donnell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnell is Black at 80.8%. The next largest groups are White (11.6%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Donnell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Donnell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.8% (7,471 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Donnell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donnell a male name?
Yes, 93.3% of people registered as Donnell in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Donnell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donnell in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Donnell can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Donnell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.