Dona

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Donna in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 18 more, Doña in AR Argentina, ES Spain and דונה in IL Israel.

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 22 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◐

Dona is also recorded as 9 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Indonesian given name10K records spelled Dona9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Doña, 'Dona, Ďona, Donà, donÃ

• a separate given name9.6K records spelled Dona6 spellings in the group

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

  Also written Doña, Dóna, donÃ, Doná, Donà

• Polish given name3.8K records spelled Dona67 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, Bulgaria

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Donna, Дона, Dawna, Донна, Doña

• Sinhala given name2.9K records spelled Dona3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Sri Lanka, United States, India, United Kingdom

  Also written 'Dona, Doña

• Catalan given name2.1K records spelled Dona2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain

  Also written Doña

• Swahili given name1.8K records spelled Dona6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Kenya, India, Philippines

  Also written Doña, Donà

• Turkish given name640 records spelled Dona9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, United States, Syria, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen

  Also written Döna, Doña, Doná, Donà, Dóná

• Greek given name518 records spelled Dona4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, Cyprus, Cameroon

  Also written Doña, Δόνα, Δονα

• Albanian given name385 records spelled Dona4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, Italy, Slovenia, United States

  Also written Dõñå, Dònà, Doña

48 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●

Dona 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 Portuguese, feminine of dono

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

• In Italian, forma reduzida ou apocopada de Donato

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In Italian, Variante di Donato

  as a name·Dizionario dei cognomi italiani

• In Finnish, synonym of tonni (“thousand units of money, one grand”)

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

• In tpi, donor (usually used to refer to countries that give aid to Papua New Guinea)

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

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) — 139 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●

• Dona Hardyb. 1912USactress, dancer (1912-2011)
• Dona Drakeb. 1914USactress, singer, dancer (1914-1989)
• Dona Z. Meilachb. 1926USauthor of Creating with plaster, Direct metal sculpture, Contemporary stone sculpture, Collage and found art, Ethnic jewelry, Decorative and sculptural ironwork, Papier-mâché artistry, Collage and Assemblage
• Dona Dumitru Siminicăb. 1926RORomanian singer (1926-1979)
• Dona Straussb. 1934ZASouth African mathematician
• Dona Nelsonb. 1947USAmerican painter (born 1947)
• Dona Cadmanb. 1950CACanadian politician
• Dona Baileyb. 1955USAmerican video game programmer
• Dona Bertarellib. 1968CHSwiss businesswoman, heiress and billionaire
• Dona Gangulyb. 1976INIndian dancer

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 · 588 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Dona?

We estimate roughly 685 thousand people bear Dona (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Dona have the most bearers?

We estimate about 635 thousand people bear Dona in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled donna.

Where is Dona most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Dona is densest in Ecuador — about 1 in 365 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Dona compared with other names?

In the United States, Dona is the 61st most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Dona a male or female name?

Dona is a female 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 Dona mean?

Recorded meaning: Mrs, madam, owner