Donise
A feminine name of French origin meaning "gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 280 living Americans carry the first name Donise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Donise today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donise births was 1969 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donise. 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.
People living today
280
~ 1 in 1,224,123 Americans
Peak year
1969
20 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1993 SSA rank
#14,103
Tracked since 1948
Census
Donise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 347 people with the first name Donise, which placed it at #26,696 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
#26,696
National first-name rank
People counted
347
347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donise is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Black (44.4%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Donise 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 Donise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.6% · 165
- Black or African American44.4% · 154
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 12
- Two or more races2.9% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 6
Popularity
Donise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donise from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 125 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
Donise 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 Donise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Donise
The name Donise is of Latin origin, with roots that can be traced back to the Roman Empire. It is believed to be derived from the Latin word "donum," meaning "gift." This suggests that the name may have been initially bestowed upon children who were perceived as a precious gift.
During the height of the Roman civilization, the name Donise was relatively uncommon, though there are a few historical references to individuals bearing this name. One notable figure was Donise Valerian, a wealthy Roman merchant who lived in the 3rd century AD and was renowned for his philanthropic endeavors.
As the Roman Empire expanded, the name Donise spread across Europe, particularly in the regions that were once under Roman influence. It gained popularity in parts of modern-day Italy, France, and Spain.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Donise can be found in the writings of the 6th-century Italian scholar Cassiodorus. He documented a woman named Donise who lived in the city of Ravenna and was known for her exceptional skills in weaving intricate tapestries.
During the Middle Ages, the name Donise was relatively rare, but it did appear in several historical records. One notable figure was Donise of Normandy (1020-1087), a noblewoman who played a significant role in the Norman conquest of England.
In the Renaissance period, the name Donise gained some popularity among the Italian aristocracy. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Donise Borgia (1462-1518), a member of the powerful Borgia family and the daughter of Pope Alexander VI.
As the centuries passed, the name Donise spread to other parts of Europe and eventually made its way across the Atlantic to the Americas. In the 19th century, there was a notable American artist named Donise Woodward (1825-1890), who was celebrated for her landscape paintings.
Another notable figure was Donise Delacroix (1875-1952), a French sculptor who gained recognition for her intricate bronze figurines depicting scenes from Greek mythology.
People
Donise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donise 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
Donise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 280 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donise 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 1,224,123 US residents.
Is Donise a common name?
We classify Donise as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 338 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donise most popular?
The single biggest year for Donise was 1969, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donise is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 347 people with the name Donise, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,696 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 Donise 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 Donise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donise leans strongly female. 339 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 9 male bearers (2.6%). 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 Donise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donise is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Black (44.4%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Donise most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.6% (165 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 Donise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donise a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donise 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 Donise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donise 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 Donise 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 Donise?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.