Donah

Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Donah has been given to 29 babies in the U.S. since 1936. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1950, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Donah, 1960

1 in 692,000

Donah over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Donah: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Donah means

Donah is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Donah is used in Cebuano.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 29 girls were recorded with the name Donah between 1936 and 1960. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1950; its best national rank was #4,301 in 1943.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Donah?

Donah had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1960, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1960: 1 in 692,000; 6 of 4,153,934 births
Among girls only: 1 in 337,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1960: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 479,882 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Donah sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1960 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 479,882 children born in 1960 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Donah. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Donahs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Donah was born before 1943 — so the typical Donah is around 82 today.

Median birth year: 1943; About 82 years old
Biggest decade: 1940s; 37.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 13; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1940s — 37.9% of all recorded uses (11).

Is Donah rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1950 (7)
Years since peak: 75; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 20.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #4,301; 1943

Spellings of Donah

Donah is not the most common spelling — Donna is, with 58.3% against Donah's <0.01%.

Donna58.3%831,641
Dana13.6%193,555
Dora7.4%105,930
Mona3.2%45,787
Norah2.4%33,869
Dena2.3%32,479
Dina2.2%32,021
Dona1.3%18,857

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Donah by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #4,301; 1943
Peak year: 1950; 7 that year
First recorded: 1936
Last recorded: 1960
All-time count: 29
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Donah

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Donnah Donel Rinah Donny Donza Zenah Joanah Donsha Binah Doneva Dontia Donene Donye Dondee Elinah Donta Donaji Donnel Linah Donja Dontae Zanah Yonah Donne

Sibling names for Donah

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Roseanna Roseanne Kathlyn Randy Oralia Ilene Karon Carlotta

For a brother

Williams Rogers Ivory Artis Lanny Val Felton Galen

Explore around Donah

Top names of 1950, Donah's peak year The 1950s in full Other names that peaked in 1943 Girls' names starting with D