Donnal
Anglicized form of the Gaelic name "Domhnall" meaning "world ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 30 living Americans carry the first name Donnal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Donnal today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donnal births was 1960 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donnal. 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 Donnal is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Donnals were born before 1964.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Donnal. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
30
~ 1 in 11,425,145 Americans
Peak year
1960
8 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1963 SSA rank
#4,207
Tracked since 1922
Census
Donnal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 161 people with the first name Donnal, which placed it at #43,643 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
#43,643
National first-name rank
People counted
161
161 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donnal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnal is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Donnal 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 Donnal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.7% · 109
- Black or African American18.6% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 6
- Two or more races3.7% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2
Popularity
Donnal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donnal from the 1920s through to the 1960s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 18 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donnal 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 Donnal 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 Donnal
The name Donnal is a variant of the Irish name Domhnall, which is derived from the Gaelic words "domhan" meaning "world" and "all" meaning "mighty" or "powerful." This name originated in Ireland during the medieval period and was popular among the Celtic inhabitants of the region.
Donnal was a common name among the Irish nobility and ruling classes during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, which mentions a Donnal mac Aedha who was the King of Aileach (a region in modern-day County Donegal) in the 8th century.
The name Donnal also appears in various Irish folklores and legends. In the legendary tale of the Battle of Magh Rath, a historical battle that took place in the 7th century, one of the central characters is a warrior named Donnal Derg (Donnal the Red).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Donnal. One of the most prominent was Donnal O'Brien (1149-1194), who was the King of Thomond (a medieval kingdom in present-day County Clare, Ireland) and a member of the influential O'Brien dynasty. Another notable figure was Donnal Óg Ó Dálaigh (c. 1275-1347), an Irish poet and chief ollamh (a high-ranking scholar) of the Ó Dálaigh literary family.
In the 15th century, Donnal Cam O'Sullivan Beare (c. 1453-1548) was a celebrated Gaelic chieftain and Lord of Beara (a region in modern-day County Cork, Ireland), known for his resistance against English rule in Munster.
Moving into the 16th century, Donnal Spainneach (Donnal the Spaniard) (c. 1530-1605) was a renowned Irish soldier and mercenary who fought alongside the Spanish against the English in the Nine Years' War in Ireland.
While the name Donnal was primarily associated with Ireland and the Gaelic culture, it also found its way into other parts of Europe through Irish emigration and cultural exchange. However, its usage remained largely concentrated within the Irish diaspora and communities with Irish heritage.
People
Donnal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donnal 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
Donnal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donnal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donnal 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 11,425,145 US residents.
Is Donnal a common name?
We classify Donnal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 46.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 54 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donnal most popular?
The single biggest year for Donnal was 1960, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donnal is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donnal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 161 people with the name Donnal, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,643 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 Donnal 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 Donnal?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Donnal on both sides of the split. Of the 160 people counted with this name, 119 were male (74.4%) and 41 were female (25.6%). 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 Donnal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnal is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Donnal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donnal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.7% (109 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 Donnal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donnal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donnal 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 Donnal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donnal 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 Donnal 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 Donnal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.