Donnette
Feminine diminutive form of Donna, derived from Latin domina meaning "lady".
Name Census estimates that about 915 living Americans carry the first name Donnette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Donnette today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donnette births was 1963 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donnette. 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.
People living today
915
~ 1 in 374,595 Americans
Peak year
1963
48 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1996 SSA rank
#12,276
Tracked since 1931
Census
Donnette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,300 people with the first name Donnette, which placed it at #10,316 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
#10,316
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,300 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donnette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnette is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (44.7%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Donnette 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 Donnette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.2% · 626
- Black or African American44.7% · 581
- Two or more races3.2% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 12
Popularity
Donnette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donnette from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 416 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donnette 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 Donnette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donnettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Texas, Iowa recorded the most babies named Donnette, while Ohio, New York, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Donnette
The name Donnette is a diminutive form of the French name Donna, which is derived from the Italian word donna, meaning "lady." Its roots can be traced back to the Latin domina, which also means "lady" or "mistress." The name gained popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in regions where French and Italian influences were strong, such as parts of Europe and the Mediterranean.
Donnette is a relatively rare name, and its earliest recorded use dates back to the late 19th century. One of the first documented instances of the name was in 1892, when Donnette Ackerman was born in Pennsylvania, United States. Another early bearer of the name was Donnette Calhoun, an American actress born in 1903 in Ohio.
In the early 20th century, Donnette Skinner, an American writer and educator, made notable contributions to children's literature. Born in 1892 in New York, she authored several books and worked as a teacher in various schools throughout her career.
Another historical figure with the name Donnette was Donnette Benjamin, a French World War II resistance fighter. Born in 1915, she played a crucial role in the resistance movement against the German occupation during World War II, risking her life to provide vital intelligence and aid to Allied forces.
More recently, Donnette Lefrak Baum, born in 1946 in New York, is an American philanthropist and businesswoman. She has been actively involved in various charitable organizations, supporting causes related to education, healthcare, and the arts.
While the name Donnette is not as common as its variants, such as Donna or Donetta, it has been carried by individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions throughout history. Its French and Italian roots, along with its diminutive form, have contributed to its unique and distinctive character.
People
Donnette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donnette 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
Donnette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donnette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 915 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donnette 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 374,595 US residents.
Is Donnette a common name?
We classify Donnette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,210 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donnette most popular?
The single biggest year for Donnette was 1963, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donnette is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donnette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,300 people with the name Donnette, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,316 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 Donnette 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 Donnette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donnette appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,293 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Donnette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnette is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (44.7%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Donnette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donnette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (626 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 Donnette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donnette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donnette in the SSA data are female. 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 Donnette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donnette 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 Donnette 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 are named Donnette?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Donnette, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.