Donley
A name of English origin meaning "valley with hill".
Name Census estimates that about 219 living Americans carry the first name Donley. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Donley today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donley births was 1934 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donley. 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 Donley is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Donleys were born before 1963.
People living today
219
~ 1 in 1,565,088 Americans
Peak year
1934
21 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1994 SSA rank
#9,207
Tracked since 1909
Census
Donley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 345 people with the first name Donley, which placed it at #26,793 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
#26,793
National first-name rank
People counted
345
345 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donley is White at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Donley 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 Donley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.3% · 284
- Black or African American11.0% · 38
- Two or more races2.9% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Donley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donley from the 1900s through to the 1990s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 146 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donley 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 Donley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donleys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Donley
The given name Donley has its origins in the English language, with roots tracing back to the Middle English period (circa 1150-1500 CE). It is believed to be a variant or diminutive form of the name Donald, which itself derives from the Gaelic name Domhnall. Domhnall is composed of the Celtic elements "domno" meaning "world" and "val" meaning "rule" or "ruler".
Donley likely emerged as a nickname or pet form of Donald, with the addition of the diminutive suffix "-ley" or "-ly". This suffix was commonly used in English to create diminutive forms of names, often indicating affection or familiarity. The earliest recorded instances of the name Donley date back to the 16th century in England.
While the name Donley does not have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its root name Donald has several notable historical figures associated with it. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Donald I, King of the Picts in Scotland in the 9th century CE.
In the 12th century, Domhnall mac Robhaird, also known as Somerled, was a prominent Norse-Gaelic military leader and King of the Isles in Scotland. Another notable figure was Domhnall Óg, the 14th century King of Tír Chonaill in Ireland.
Moving into more recent history, Donald Mackay (1839-1880) was a Scottish-Canadian explorer and author who played a significant role in the exploration of the Canadian Arctic. Sir Donald Francis Tovey (1875-1940) was a renowned English musical scholar, composer, and writer.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Donald in modern times was Donald Bradman (1908-2001), widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and an Australian sporting legend.
These examples illustrate the long and varied history of the name Donley, which has its roots in the Celtic languages and has been borne by notable figures across different eras and cultures.
People
Donley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donley 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
Donley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 219 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donley 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 1,565,088 US residents.
Is Donley a common name?
We classify Donley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 564 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donley most popular?
The single biggest year for Donley was 1934, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donley 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 Donley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 345 people with the name Donley, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,793 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 Donley 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 Donley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donley leans strongly male. 331 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 17 female bearers (4.9%). 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 Donley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donley is White at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Donley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.3% (284 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 Donley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donley a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donley 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 Donley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donley 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 Donley 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 Donley?
You can see how many people have the name Donley on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.