Donice
A feminine given name derived from Latin meaning "gift of the Lord".
Name Census estimates that about 313 living Americans carry the first name Donice. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Donice today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donice births was 1955 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donice. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Donice is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Donices were born before 1971.
People living today
313
~ 1 in 1,095,062 Americans
Peak year
1955
24 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1994 SSA rank
#14,061
Tracked since 1919
Census
Donice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 469 people with the first name Donice, which placed it at #21,580 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
#21,580
National first-name rank
People counted
469
469 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donice is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (34.3%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Donice 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 Donice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 269
- Black or African American34.3% · 161
- Two or more races4.3% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 4
Popularity
Donice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donice from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 143 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donice 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 Donice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donices live
Origin
Meaning and history of Donice
The given name Donice has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the root word "donum," which means "gift." It emerged during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions influenced by Latin culture and the Christian faith.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Donice can be traced back to the 9th century, when it appeared in historical records from the Carolingian Empire. During this period, the name was associated with individuals of noble birth or those who held positions within the Church.
In the 11th century, the name Donice gained prominence in certain regions of Italy, particularly in the northern territories. It was often bestowed upon individuals born into affluent families or those with close ties to the Catholic Church. Historical records from this era mention several notable figures bearing the name Donice, though their specific details have been lost to time.
As the centuries passed, the name Donice continued to be used across various parts of Europe, albeit with varying degrees of popularity. In the 13th century, a notable figure named Donice di Bagnoregio, an Italian scholar and philosopher, gained recognition for his contributions to the study of logic and metaphysics.
During the Renaissance period, the name Donice experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly among the Italian aristocracy. One notable bearer of the name was Donice Malatesta, a noblewoman from the influential Malatesta family of Rimini, who lived from 1468 to 1542.
In the 17th century, the name Donice found its way into the literary world, with the character of Donice appearing in the play "The Alchemist" by the renowned English playwright Ben Jonson, first performed in 1610.
Other notable individuals bearing the name Donice throughout history include Donice Pimentel, a Spanish painter active in the 18th century, renowned for her intricate religious artwork; Donice Vanderbilt, an American socialite and philanthropist from the famous Vanderbilt family, who lived from 1876 to 1952; and Donice Baudelaire, a French poet and critic of the late 19th century, known for his contributions to the development of the Symbolist movement.
While the name Donice has experienced periods of waning popularity over the centuries, it has maintained a unique and enduring presence, carrying with it a rich history that spans multiple cultures and eras.
People
Donice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donice 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
Donice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 313 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donice 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 1,095,062 US residents.
Is Donice a common name?
We classify Donice as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 567 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donice most popular?
The single biggest year for Donice was 1955, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donice is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 469 people with the name Donice, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,580 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 Donice 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 Donice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donice leans strongly female. 411 people counted with this name were female (86.3%), compared with 65 male bearers (13.7%). 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 Donice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donice is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (34.3%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Donice most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (269 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 Donice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donice a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donice 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 Donice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donice 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 Donice 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 are called Donice?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.