Doni
A masculine name of Spanish origin meaning "gift".
Name Census estimates that about 699 living Americans carry the first name Doni. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Doni today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Doni births was 1961 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Doni. 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 Doni with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
699
~ 1 in 490,350 Americans
Peak year
1961
33 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,753
Tracked since 1946
Census
Doni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 923 people with the first name Doni, which placed it at #13,172 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
#13,172
National first-name rank
People counted
923
923 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Doni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doni is White at 67.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.1%) and Black (10.3%). 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 Doni 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 Doni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.5% · 623
- Hispanic or Latino11.1% · 102
- Black or African American10.3% · 95
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 46
- Two or more races4.9% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Doni
Doni leans heavily female at 82.5% of total registrations, but 144 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Doni as a male name
- Ranked #12,753 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1973 (14 births)
Doni as a female name
- Ranked #15,138 in 2013
- 6 female births in 2013
- Peak: 1957 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doni on both sides of the split. Of the 920 people counted with this name, 273 were male (29.7%) and 647 were female (70.3%).
Popularity
Doni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Doni from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 249 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Doni 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 Doni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Doni
The name Doni finds its origins in the Albanian language. It is a diminutive form of the given name Donata, which is the feminine form of the Latin name Donatus, meaning "given" or "granted." The name Donata has been in use since ancient Roman times.
In Albanian culture, the name Doni is commonly given to baby girls. It is a popular name in Albania, Kosovo, and areas with significant Albanian populations. The name is also found in other Balkan regions and among various diaspora communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Doni is found in a 14th-century Albanian manuscript, where it was used as a diminutive form of Donata. This suggests that the name has been in use among Albanians for several centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Doni. One of the most famous is Doni Tadic, a Serbian-born Australian soccer player who played for various clubs in Australia and abroad between 1997 and 2017.
Another notable Doni is Doni Zaholi, an Albanian singer and songwriter who has released several successful albums since the early 2000s. She is considered one of the most popular contemporary Albanian artists.
In the realm of literature, Doni Dada is a renowned Albanian author and poet. Born in 1939, she has written numerous works that explore themes of love, identity, and the human experience.
Doni Martos, born in 1950, is a prominent Albanian painter and sculptor. Her works have been exhibited in galleries across Europe and are celebrated for their vibrant colors and bold styles.
Doni Qera, born in 1986, is an Albanian professional basketball player who has represented the Albanian national team and played for various clubs in Europe and Asia.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Doni, a name with roots in Albanian language and culture, reflecting its enduring popularity and cultural significance.
People
Doni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Doni 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
Doni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Doni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 699 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Doni 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 490,350 US residents.
Is Doni a common name?
We classify Doni as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 823 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Doni most popular?
The single biggest year for Doni was 1961, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Doni is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Doni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 923 people with the name Doni, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,172 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 Doni 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 Doni?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doni on both sides of the split. Of the 920 people counted with this name, 273 were male (29.7%) and 647 were female (70.3%). 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 Doni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doni is White at 67.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.1%) and Black (10.3%). 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 Doni most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Doni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.5% (623 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 Doni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Doni a female name?
Yes, 82.5% of people registered as Doni in the SSA data are female. 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 Doni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Doni 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 Doni 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 Doni?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.