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Donelle

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Feminine form of Don

Donelle has been given to 1,450 babies in the U.S. since 1922. 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 1970, with 42 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 78% girls, 22% boys all-time.

Babies named Donelle, 2007

1 in 571,000

Donelle over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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

In 2019, Donelle went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19222019

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.

Donelle: meaning, origin, and history

Feminine form of Don

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Donelle means

Donelle is a feminine form of Don.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Donelle is used in English (Rare).

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Don.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,127 girls were recorded with the name Donelle between 1922 and 2007. Its highest annual count was 42 in 1970; its best national rank was #1,920 in 1968.

In the United States, 323 boys were recorded with the name Donelle between 1967 and 2019. Its highest annual count was 20 in 1979; its best national rank was #2,402 in 1979.

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 Donelle?

Donelle had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2007, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2007
1 in 571,000
7 of 3,997,748 births
Among girls only
1 in 275,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2007
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
395,862 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Donelle 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 2007 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 395,862 children born in 2007 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Donelle. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Donelles were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Donelle was born before 1971 — so the typical Donelle is around 54 today.

Median birth year
1971
About 54 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
28.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
22.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,065
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 28.0% of all recorded uses (315).

Is Donelle 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 1970 (42)
Years since peak
55
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,920
1968

Spellings of Donelle

Donelle is not the most common spelling — Danielle is, with 67.4% against Donelle's 0.20%.

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 Donelle is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Donelle was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 394,257 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Illinois1 in —
  3. 3Pennsylvania1 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. Donelle has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Donelle is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Donelle was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,332,384 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in —

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. Donelle has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Donelle around the world

Where Donelle 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.

  • South Australia
    1951–1970
    #707
    in 1970

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Donelle 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
#1,920
1968
Peak year
1970
42 that year
First recorded
1922
Last recorded
2007
All-time count
1,127
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,402
1979
Peak year
1979
20 that year
First recorded
1967
Last recorded
2019
All-time count
323
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Donelle

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

DonielleDonyelleDonnelleDonellaDonnabelleAnnelleDonetteJizelleDonnellDonishaLorelleHazelleMikelleDonnielleDonnitaDoniaSydelleErielleDoneshaBryelleAvielleDonettaDonaldaRoselle

Sibling names for Donelle

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 Donelle

Top names of 1970, Donelle's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1968Girls' names starting with D