Donald

given name · English · Latin script

Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise

Donald is a given name, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country, where it is the 43rd most common given name. It appears chiefly in English and Spanish, written in the Latin script. Recorded meaning: From the Gaelic male personal name Domhnall, literally ‘world-mighty’.

rarermore common
  • CACanada1 in 352◐
  • IEIreland1 in 378
  • SGSingapore1 in 386

carrying the name, one hue, darker where it is more common. Hover a country for its figure.

≈720K ●

across 8 countries

#209 ●

of 16M given names

6 ●

recorded for this name

Sources
572 ●

11M records

Official registry-verified

1 in 465 ◐

United States

Spellings & scripts●

DonaldLatin · English●10M records
דונלדHebrew · Hebrew●1.7K records
ᲓონალდიGeorgian · Georgian●10 records
ডোনাল্ডBengali · Bangla●2 records
도널드Hangul · Korean●0 records
ДоналдCyrillic · Tajik●0 records

One other spelling is counted as the same name:

Locally spelled דונלד 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●

From the Gaelic male personal name Domhnall, literally ‘world-mighty’.

Sources 1

  • Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Where in the world●

Sorted by bearers counted by national registers, records where none counts.

Where Donald is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
US United States#43714,8569.1M rec.1 in 465715KDonald572
GB United Kingdom#63532,420526K rec.—6Donald239
CA Canada#36236,611236K rec.—4Donald239
AU Australia#115183,861177K rec.—76Donald201
IT Italy#12172,75074K rec.——Donald84
PH Philippines#47945,64644K rec.——Donald126
DE Germany#42142,96243K rec.——Donald134
SG Singapore#527,89728K rec.——Donald78
RU Russia#76926,59228K rec.——Donald52
IE Ireland#4524,64226K rec.——Donald76
CN China—24,38825K rec.——Donald59
EG Egypt#28119,09519K rec.——Donald26

Roughly 715K people in United States bear this name (about 1 in 465). Estimates project the name's share of our records onto national population, so each is only as good as the record base beside it — the Basis column gives that base; rows marked △ rest on fewer records than the estimate itself and are order-of-magnitude at best.

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table. How that works.

Languages●

  • English10M86%
  • Spanish376K3%
  • 174K1%
  • German103K1%
  • French95K1%
Show as table
Languages in which the name is recorded
NameRecordsNote
English10,402,95786%
Spanish375,7963%
173,8371%
German103,2151%
French95,1981%

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◐

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

  • a separate given name195K records spelled Donald3 spellings in the group

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

    Also written Ḍonalḍ, Dónald

  • Polish given name55K records spelled Donald23 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia

    Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

    Also written Дональд, Доналд, Donal'D, Donàld

  • Indonesian given name24K records spelled Donald5 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia

    Languages: Indonesian, Malay

    Also written Donàld, Dônąld, Dońald

  • Hungarian given name16K records spelled Donald5 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Finland, United Kingdom

    Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

    Also written Donáld, Dõnåld

  • Thai given name14K records spelled Donald8 spellings in the group

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

    Languages: Thai, Lao

    Also written โดนัลด์, Donan, Doñan, โดนลด, Donalds

  • Albanian given name9.7K records spelled Donald3 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Albania, United States, Italy, United Kingdom

    Also written Dôñàld, Dõñãld

74 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●

Donald 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, From Gaelic Domhnall (earlier Domnall), from Celtic dubno ‘world ruler/overlord’. Surname first found at Kinross in 1328.

    as a nameScottish Surnames

  • In English, from Gael Domhnall / OIr Domnall, PrCeltic *Dubno-valos ‘world-mighty’; first attested Haket Donald 1328 Black (Kinross)

    as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames

  • In French, From Gaelic Dòmhnall, meaning “powerful people” or “ruler of the world”; Celtic origin.

    as a nameLe grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

  • In French, Scottish Gaelic Domhnall, from ‘world’ + ‘rule’

    as a nameLe grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

  • In English, Irish/Scottish Gaelic: ruler of the world.

    as a nameBaby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

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●

010K20K30K40K19001950200030K · 1934

Show as table
Donald in SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present), United States, 1880–2025
Yearrecords
188046
188127
188248
188352
188459
188547
188657
188760
188877
188975
1890109
1891100
1892137
1893166
1894169
1895203
1896211
1897195
1898238
1899258
1900328
1901250
1902366
1903359
1904413
1905425
1906486
1907616
1908664
1909725
1910860
19111,275
19122,872
19133,702
19144,835
19157,116
19167,736
19178,729
19189,972
19199,904
192011,941
192113,776
192214,913
192316,433
192417,929
192519,193
192620,912
192723,834
192825,704
192927,181
193029,052
193129,100
193229,794
193328,450
193430,408
193529,674
193628,639
193727,868
193826,677
193924,056
194023,115
194122,641
194223,955
194324,421
194423,468
194522,138
194626,273
194728,260
194826,442
194927,121
195026,999
195127,916
195228,269
195328,361
195429,279
195527,726
195628,223
195727,910
195825,015
195923,876
196022,744
196121,409
196220,425
196318,896
196418,045
196516,033
196614,713
196714,226
196813,362
196912,775
197012,397
197110,872
19729,261
19738,361
19747,758
19757,197
19766,792
19776,866
19786,423
19796,508
19806,269
19815,910
19825,712
19835,327
19845,062
19854,750
19864,661
19874,501
19884,328
19894,323
19904,177
19913,650
19923,266
19932,996
19942,652
19952,252
19962,184
19971,970
19981,862
19991,747
20001,609
20011,470
20021,289
20031,308
20041,251
20051,150
20061,098
2007999
2008992
2009839
2010765
2011788
2012729
2013711
2014738
2015696
2016625
2017603
2018541
2019513
2020450
2021468
2022403
2023415
2024408
2025395

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●

500100015002000Donald I, b. 812Donald Sutherland, b. 1935Don DeLillo, b. 1936Donald Knuth, b. 1938Kenny Rogers, b. 1938Präsident Donald Trump, b. 1946Tim Cook, b. 1960Don Cheadle, b. 1964David Cameron, b. 1966JD Vance, b. 1984
  • Donald Ib. 812GBKing of the Picts from 858 to 862
  • Donald Sutherlandb. 1935CACanadian actor (1935–2024)
  • Don DeLillob. 1936USnot in their usual nameAmerican novelist, playwright and essayist (born 1936)
  • Donald Knuthb. 1938USAmerican computer scientist and mathematician (born 1938)
  • Kenny Rogersb. 1938USnot in their usual nameAmerican country singer (1938–2020)
  • Präsident Donald Trumpb. 1946US45th and 47th President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
  • Tim Cookb. 1960USnot in their usual nameAmerican business executive, Apple CEO
  • Don Cheadleb. 1964USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (born 1964)
  • David Cameronb. 1966GBnot in their usual nameBritish politician (born 1966)
  • JD Vanceb. 1984USnot in their usual nameVice President of the United States since 2025

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●

Attested in 122 sources across 68 countries.

Official registers attesting Donald
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex2020715K#48
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010201012K#2,899
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020202012K#2,905
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000200012K#2,802
SE SwedenSkatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population)—1.6K#1,230
CR Costa RicaTSE — electoral roll (padrón) names—1.6K#425
NL NetherlandsMeertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017)—1.2K#1,921
AL AlbaniaINSTAT Albania — Search the name (given-name counts)—1.2K#419
FR FranceINSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024)2006985#2,111
US United StatesCensus Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex2020768#48
EC EcuadorINEC — civil registry names2024572#890
SE SwedenSCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023)2020542—

Reference works 7

  • The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
  • Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (Tom II: C-D)
  • Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
  • Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
  • Wikipedia given-name tokens
  • Wikipedia surname tokens
  • Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,082 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Donald?
We estimate roughly 720 thousand people bear Donald (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.
In which country does Donald have the most bearers?
We estimate about 715 thousand people bear Donald in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled donald.
How common is Donald compared with other names?
In the United States, Donald is the 43rd most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.
Is Donald a male or female name?
Donald 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 Donald mean?
Recorded meaning: From the Gaelic male personal name Domhnall, literally ‘world-mighty’.
Query this name via API
curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/donald

The same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use. Bulk access and licensing.

About this data

● measured from records◐ inferred from the name graph○ machine-generated

Data snapshot . Figures are rebuilt periodically and will change.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Donald” — the 43rd most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-09-12.

See how Donald parses inside a full name →