Don

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 12 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Don is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name144K records spelled Don17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Mexico, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Italian, Romanian

  Also written Doñ, Dón, D'On, Dôñ, D'Oñ

• a separate given name68K records spelled Don3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada

  Also written Dō̜n, Dǭn

• French given name40K records spelled Don9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, Congo - Kinshasa

  Also written Dõn, Dôn, D'On, Don', Dòn

• Portuguese given name26K records spelled Don13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Portugal, Philippines

  Also written Doñ, Dõn, Dőn, Dòn, Dờn

• Indonesian given name12K records spelled Don14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Malaysia, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Dôn, Ďon, Doñ, Ďõn, Ďoń

• Polish given name11K records spelled Don28 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Dawn, Дон, Ďôň, Dön, Ďőň

82 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Don is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A university professor, particularly one at Oxford or Cambridge.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, Different form of Dunn.

  as a name·Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

• In English, river, Russia; river, Yorkshire; riv

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In Italian, forma reduzida ou apocopada de Donno

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In English, Scotland; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Don Amecheb. 1908USAmerican actor (1908–1993)
• Don Siegelb. 1912USAmerican film director (1912–1991)
• Don Budgeb. 1915USAmerican tennis player (1915-2000)
• Don Keeferb. 1916USAmerican actor (1916–2014)
• Don Youngb. 1933USAmerican politician (1933–2022)
• Captain Beefheartb. 1941USnot in their usual nameAmerican musician and painter (1941-2010)
• Don S. Davisb. 1942USAmerican character actor (1942–2008)
• Don Johnsonb. 1949USAmerican actor and singer (born 1949)
• Don Hallb. 1969USAmerican film director
• Don Diablob. 1980NLDutch DJ and record producer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 733 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Don?

We estimate roughly 110 thousand people bear Don (counting its spellings and scripts) across 5 countries in our records.

In which country does Don have the most bearers?

We estimate about 109 thousand people bear Don in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled don.

How common is Don compared with other names?

In the United States, Don is the 243rd most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Don a male or female name?

Don is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Don mean?

Recorded meaning: Short form of Donald.