Donnia
A feminine name derived from the masculine Spanish name "Don", meaning "lady".
Name Census estimates that about 267 living Americans carry the first name Donnia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Donnia today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donnia births was 1956 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donnia. 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
267
~ 1 in 1,283,724 Americans
Peak year
1956
22 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2006 SSA rank
#17,900
Tracked since 1926
Census
Donnia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 305 people with the first name Donnia, which placed it at #29,174 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
#29,174
National first-name rank
People counted
305
305 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donnia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnia is White at 55.4%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Donnia 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 Donnia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.4% · 169
- Black or African American31.8% · 97
- Two or more races5.9% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.0% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 2
Popularity
Donnia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donnia from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 116 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
Donnia 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 Donnia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donnias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Donnia
The name Donnia is thought to have its roots in the ancient Celtic language, originating from the regions of modern-day Ireland and Scotland. It is believed to be derived from the Gaelic word "donn," meaning "brown" or "dark-haired," suggesting that the name may have originally been used to describe someone with a particular physical trait or appearance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Donnia can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history dating back to the 15th century. The name appears in this text as "Donnia Ua Conchobair," referring to a member of the powerful O'Conor dynasty that ruled parts of Ireland during the Middle Ages.
In the realm of religious texts, the name Donnia is not widely documented, although some scholars have speculated that it may have been used as a variant spelling of the name "Donnchadh," which has roots in early Christian traditions in Ireland.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Donnia. One of the earliest recorded was Donnia Ua Conchobair, a 15th-century Irish nobleman and member of the O'Conor dynasty mentioned in the Annals of Ulster. Another prominent figure was Donnia MacLeod (1570-1635), a Scottish chieftain and clan leader from the Isle of Skye.
In more recent times, Donnia Halvorsen (1891-1976) was a Norwegian-American author and journalist who wrote extensively about her experiences as an immigrant in the United States. Donnia Reid (1928-2005) was a British stage and film actress known for her roles in various BBC productions throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Additionally, Donnia Romero (born 1949) is an American educator and activist who has been instrumental in promoting bilingual education and advocating for the rights of Hispanic and Latino communities in the United States.
While the name Donnia is not as common today as it once was, its rich historical roots and connections to various cultures and traditions have made it a unique and intriguing name with a fascinating backstory.
People
Donnia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donnia 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
Donnia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donnia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 267 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donnia 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 1,283,724 US residents.
Is Donnia a common name?
We classify Donnia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 394 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donnia most popular?
The single biggest year for Donnia was 1956, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donnia 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 Donnia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 305 people with the name Donnia, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,174 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 Donnia 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 Donnia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donnia appears almost entirely female. Of the 306 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Donnia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnia is White at 55.4%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Donnia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donnia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.4% (169 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 Donnia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donnia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donnia 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 Donnia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donnia 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 Donnia 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 Americans are named Donnia?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Donnia at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.