Name Awesome

Donell

#6,550 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Donell has been given to 5,418 babies in the U.S. since 1915. In 2025 it ranked #6,550 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1959, with 99 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 89% boys, 11% girls all-time.

Babies named Donell, 2025

1 in 255,000

Donell over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Donell over time

In 2025, Donell went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19152025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Donell: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Donell means

Donell is a given name.

The naming story behind Donell

Wikidata records Donell as a given name. The entity identifier is Q5295649, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,827 boys were recorded with the name Donell between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 99 in 1959; its best national rank was #763 in 1956.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,383 in 2020 to #6,550 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,111 in 2015 to #6,550 in 2025.

In the United States, 591 girls were recorded with the name Donell between 1932 and 1990. Its highest annual count was 24 in 1968; its best national rank was #2,556 in 1962.

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.

How common is Donell?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 255,000
13 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 131,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,550
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
176,762 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Donell sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 176,762 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Donell. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Donells were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Donell was born before 1974 — so the typical Donell is around 51 today.

Median birth year
1974
About 51 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
16.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
13.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
4,234
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 16.8% of all recorded uses (812).

Is Donell 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
+2,668
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−167
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,439
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.72×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
13.1%
Peak was 1959 (99)
Years since peak
66
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#763
1956

Spellings of Donell

Donell is not the most common spelling — Donald is, with 88.7% against Donell's 0.30%.

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.

Where Donell is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Donell was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 16,667 boys, against 1 in 65,569 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

06 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 16,667
  2. 2Illinois1 in 25,000
  3. 3Louisiana1 in 33,333
  4. 4South Carolina1 in 33,333
  5. 5Arkansas1 in 50,000
  6. 6Florida1 in 50,000
  7. 7Georgia1 in 50,000
  8. 8North Carolina1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Donell has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Donell is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Donell was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 889,599 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Donell has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Donell around the world

Where Donell ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2013
    #3,822
    in 2013
  • South Australia
    1954–1954
    #360
    in 1954

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Donell

People whose public names include Donell, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Donell by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,550
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 167
Best rank ever
#763
1956
Peak year
1959
99 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,827
Count in 2025
13

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,556
1962
Peak year
1968
24 that year
First recorded
1932
Last recorded
1990
All-time count
591
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Donell

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

DonnellDontrellDonzellDontaeDonatoDonyellDontayDonavonDontaDondreJewellDonavanDarellHowellDontellDonavinDontezLovellJarellDonnyLavellTerellDonteKendell

Names with a curve like Donell

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Donell, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

BrittEdwardoRenardRojelioCarnellCharltonRanceArnoldoGreggoryMichaleGilDerrell

Sibling names for Donell

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

Explore around Donell

Top names of 1959, Donell's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1956Boys' names starting with D