Donat
Latin name derived from the word "donatus," meaning "given" or "gifted."
Name Census estimates that about 59 living Americans carry the first name Donat. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Donat today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donat births was 1918 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donat. 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 Donat with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Donat is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Donats were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Donat. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
59
~ 1 in 5,809,396 Americans
Peak year
1918
22 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1966 SSA rank
#3,629
Tracked since 1894
Census
Donat in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 228 people with the first name Donat, which placed it at #35,335 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
#35,335
National first-name rank
People counted
228
228 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donat
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donat is White at 68.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Donat 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 Donat at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.4% · 156
- Black or African American24.6% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 7
- Two or more races3.1% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2
Popularity
Donat: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donat from the 1890s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 127 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donat 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 Donat during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donats live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine recorded the most babies named Donat, while Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Donat
The name Donat has its origins in the Late Latin name Donatus, derived from the Latin word donatus meaning "given" or "granted". It is a Christian name that emerged during the early days of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
The name Donatus was borne by several early Christian saints and martyrs, the most notable being St. Donatus of Arezzo, a 4th-century bishop and martyr. He was venerated in the Roman Catholic Church and his feast day is celebrated on August 7th.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Donat can be found in the 5th-century text "De viris illustribus" by St. Jerome, where he mentions a Donat who was a grammarian and teacher in Rome during the 4th century.
Throughout history, the name Donat has been popular in various European cultures, particularly in Italy, France, and Spain. Some notable figures who bore this name include:
1. Donat Grau (1808-1899), a Spanish painter known for his religious and historical works.
2. Donat Pamplona (1888-1976), a Spanish politician and lawyer who served as the President of the Spanish Constitutional Court.
3. Donat Cuine (1935-2008), a French actor and director who appeared in numerous films and television shows.
4. Donat Sorokin (1883-1944), a Russian-born French sculptor and artist known for his avant-garde works.
5. Donat Proença de Vieira (1611-1659), a Portuguese writer and historian who authored several works on the history of Portugal.
The name Donat has also been used in various spellings and variations across different languages and cultures, such as Donato in Italian, Donat in German, and Donatas in Lithuanian.
People
Donat + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donat 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
Donat: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donat?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 59 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donat 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 5,809,396 US residents.
Is Donat a common name?
We classify Donat as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 351 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donat most popular?
The single biggest year for Donat was 1918, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donat is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donat in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 228 people with the name Donat, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,335 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 Donat 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 Donat?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donat leans strongly male. 219 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 3 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Donat?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donat is White at 68.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Donat most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donat in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.4% (156 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 Donat in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donat a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donat 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 Donat still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donat 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 Donat 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 many people share the name Donat?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.