Donald

Meaning: Prince or chief of the world
Origin: From Scottish Gaelic, from Proto-Celtic

Nicknames: Don, Donnie, Donny

Boy's name · #690 in the US (2025) · Vintage

Popularity over time

Donald is an heirloom: its strongest era came around 1934, when it ranked #6. It has thinned since but never left the records — about 1.4 million boys since 1880, ranked #690 today. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records.

Across the states

See where Donald is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 34 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Donald ranks in other countries and regions.

#410 in Scotland (2025) · #1,484 in England & Wales (2025) · #1,113 in Canada (2024).

Famous Donalds

Donald Trump — American politician (born 1946)
Donald Tusk — Polish politician (born 1957)
Donald Sutherland — Canadian actor (1935–2024)
Donald Knuth — American computer scientist and mathematician (born 1938)
Donald Rumsfeld — American politician and diplomat (1932–2021)

In stories & tradition

Donald Duck — Saludos Amigos (film)
Donald Mallard — NCIS (TV series)
Donald Pierce — Logan (film)

What Donalds become

Among 4,277 notable people named Donald:

Military figures appear 2.01× more often than among typical names — e.g. Donald Izacus Pandjaitan, Indonesian general (1925–1965).

Spellings & nicknames

About 98 boys a year are given Don as their full name and 90 Donnie.

Similar names: Donnie · Ronald · Douglas · Keith · Don · Marvin

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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