Donie
Diminutive form of Domhnall, an Irish name meaning "world ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 168 living Americans carry the first name Donie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Donie today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donie births was 1895 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donie. 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 Donie is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Donies were born before 1963.
People living today
168
~ 1 in 2,040,204 Americans
Peak year
1895
25 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1990 SSA rank
#7,422
Tracked since 1880
Census
Donie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 326 people with the first name Donie, which placed it at #27,839 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
#27,839
National first-name rank
People counted
326
326 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donie is White at 61.7%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Donie 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 Donie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.7% · 201
- Black or African American22.1% · 72
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 19
- Two or more races5.5% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Donie
Donie leans heavily female at 87.9% of total registrations, but 131 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Donie as a male name
- Ranked #7,422 in 1990
- 6 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1957 (11 births)
Donie as a female name
- Ranked #8,262 in 1975
- 6 female births in 1975
- Peak: 1895 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Donie on both sides of the split. Of the 326 people counted with this name, 146 were male (44.8%) and 180 were female (55.2%).
Popularity
Donie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donie from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1890s, with 186 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1890s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donie 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 Donie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Donie
The name Donie has its origins in the Irish language, specifically the Gaelic word "Donnchadh". This name can be traced back to the early medieval period in Ireland, around the 5th to 7th centuries CE. It is derived from the Old Irish words "donn" meaning "brown" or "dark", and "cath" meaning "battle" or "warrior". The name essentially translates to "brown warrior" or "dark battler".
Donie was a relatively common name among the ancient Celtic tribes of Ireland, particularly those in the western regions. It was often given to boys who were born during times of conflict or war, reflecting the warrior-like qualities embedded in the name's meaning. The earliest recorded instances of the name Donie can be found in ancient Irish annals and manuscripts, such as the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of the Four Masters.
One of the earliest historically significant figures to bear the name Donie was Donie O'Brien, an Irish king who ruled the Kingdom of Thomond in the 12th century. Born around 1120 CE, he was a prominent figure in the ongoing conflicts between the Irish kingdoms and the Anglo-Norman invaders during that period.
Another notable bearer of the name was Donie Spáinneach (Donie the Spaniard), a 16th-century Irish soldier and leader of the Irish contingent of the Spanish Armada. He was born in County Clare, Ireland, around 1560 CE and gained fame for his role in the failed Spanish invasion of England in 1588.
In the 17th century, Donie O'Keeffe was an Irish landowner and chieftain from County Cork, Ireland. Born around 1620 CE, he played a significant role in the Irish Confederate Wars against the English Parliament during the 1640s.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Donie O'Leary was an Irish language scholar and writer from County Cork, Ireland. Born in 1839, he is renowned for his contributions to preserving and promoting the Irish language and its literature.
Finally, in the early 20th century, Donie Bush was an Irish politician and member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Born in County Leitrim in 1891, he was actively involved in the Irish Revolutionary period and participated in the Irish War of Independence against British rule.
While the name Donie has seen a decline in popularity in more recent times, it remains a significant part of Irish cultural heritage, carrying with it a rich history and deep-rooted connections to the island's ancient past and struggles for independence.
People
Donie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donie 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
Donie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 168 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donie 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 2,040,204 US residents.
Is Donie a common name?
We classify Donie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,087 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donie most popular?
The single biggest year for Donie was 1895, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donie is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 326 people with the name Donie, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,839 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 Donie 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 Donie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Donie on both sides of the split. Of the 326 people counted with this name, 146 were male (44.8%) and 180 were female (55.2%). 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 Donie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donie is White at 61.7%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Donie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.7% (201 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 Donie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donie a female name?
Yes, 87.9% of people registered as Donie 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 Donie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donie 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 Donie 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 named Donie?
Find out how many people share the name Donie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.