Donal
A masculine name meaning "ruler of the world" from the Gaelic language.
Name Census estimates that about 1,756 living Americans carry the first name Donal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Donal today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donal births was 1930 (98 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donal. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Donal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 195,190 Americans
Peak year
1930
98 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,288
Tracked since 1909
Census
Donal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,503 people with the first name Donal, which placed it at #6,419 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,419
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,503 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donal is White at 78.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (8.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Donal described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Donal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.1% · 1,956
- Black or African American8.5% · 214
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 205
- Two or more races3.1% · 77
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Donal
Out of the 3,712 babies given the name Donal since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Donal as a male name
- Ranked #12,700 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1930 (98 births)
Donal as a female name
- Ranked #7,288 in 1968
- 5 female births in 1968
- Peak: 1968 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donal leans strongly male. 2,453 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 54 female bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Donal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donal from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 797 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donal by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Donal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Texas, California, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Donal, while Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Donal
The name Donal finds its origins in the Gaelic language and culture of Ireland. It is derived from the Old Irish word "Domhnall," which means "world ruler" or "world mighty." This name was likely formed from the combination of the Irish words "domhun" (world) and "fhal" (ruler or mighty).
The name Donal has a long and rich history in Irish tradition, with some of the earliest recorded examples dating back to the 6th century CE. One of the most notable figures with this name was Donal IV, who ruled as the King of Ailech, a medieval Irish kingdom, in the late 10th century.
In ancient Irish literature, the name Donal appears in various texts and manuscripts, including the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of the Four Masters, which were chronicles of Irish history written in the 15th and 17th centuries, respectively.
Throughout the centuries, several prominent figures have borne the name Donal. One of the earliest recorded was Donal Mor O'Brien (1180-1194), who was the King of Thomond, a medieval kingdom in Ireland. Another notable figure was Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare (c. 1561-1618), an Irish clan chief and military leader known for leading the O'Sullivan Beare clan during the Nine Years' War against English forces.
In more recent history, Donal Ryan (born 1976) is an Irish writer and novelist, known for his works such as "The Spinning Heart" and "The Thing About December." Donal Óg Cusack (born 1977) is a former Irish hurler who played for Cork and is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of the sport.
Donal Logue (born 1966) is a Canadian-American actor and producer, known for his roles in films like "Gothika" and television series like "Grounded for Life" and "Gotham." Donal Henahan (1929-2007) was an American music critic and journalist who worked for The New York Times for over three decades.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Donal, which has its roots in the ancient Gaelic language and culture of Ireland.
People
Donal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donal as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Donal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,756 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donal going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 195,190 US residents.
Is Donal a common name?
We classify Donal as "Rare". It ranks above 93.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,712 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donal most popular?
The single biggest year for Donal was 1930, when 98 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donal is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,503 people with the name Donal, or 0.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,419 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Donal in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Donal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donal leans strongly male. 2,453 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 54 female bearers (2.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Donal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donal is White at 78.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (8.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Donal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.1% (1,956 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Donal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donal a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Donal in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Donal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donal in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Donal can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Donal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.