Donnielle
A feminine name of Scottish origin meaning "little brown one".
Name Census estimates that about 89 living Americans carry the first name Donnielle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Donnielle today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donnielle births was 1986 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donnielle. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Donnielle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
89
~ 1 in 3,851,172 Americans
Peak year
1986
12 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1994 SSA rank
#14,064
Tracked since 1970
Census
Donnielle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 158 people with the first name Donnielle, which placed it at #44,091 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
#44,091
National first-name rank
People counted
158
158 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donnielle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnielle is White at 48.1%. The next largest groups are Black (35.4%) and Two or More Races (7.6%). 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 Donnielle 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 Donnielle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.1% · 76
- Black or African American35.4% · 56
- Two or more races7.6% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2
Popularity
Donnielle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donnielle from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 51 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donnielle 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 Donnielle 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 Donnielle
The name Donnielle originates from a combination of the English name Donna and the French name Danielle. It is a relatively modern name, first appearing in the late 20th century as a unique blend of these two older names.
Donna is derived from the Italian and Spanish word "donna," meaning "lady." This word traces its roots back to the Latin "domina," which also means "lady" or "mistress." Donna has been a popular name in English-speaking countries since the 19th century.
Danielle, on the other hand, is a French name that ultimately comes from the Hebrew name Daniel, meaning "God is my judge." Danielle became popular in France in the Middle Ages and later spread to other parts of Europe and the English-speaking world.
While there are no specific historical references to the name Donnielle itself, its components have a rich history. Donna was a common name among Italian and Spanish nobility, and it has been borne by several notable figures throughout history, such as the Italian painter Donna Mattei (1662-1737) and the American actress Donna Reed (1921-1986).
Danielle has also been the name of several notable individuals, including the French novelist Danielle Steel (born 1947) and the American actress Danielle Panabaker (born 1987).
Some early recorded examples of individuals with the name Donnielle include:
1. Donnielle Kowalski, an American artist and photographer born in 1975.
2. Donnielle Russo, an American writer and journalist born in 1982.
3. Donnielle Anshutz, an American businesswoman and entrepreneur born in 1968.
4. Donnielle Johnson, an American musician and songwriter born in 1979.
5. Donnielle Carrington, a British athlete and Olympic sprinter born in 1991.
While the name Donnielle is not as common as its individual components, it has gained some popularity in recent decades as a unique and distinctive name choice, blending elements of different cultural traditions.
People
Donnielle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donnielle 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
Donnielle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donnielle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 89 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donnielle 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 3,851,172 US residents.
Is Donnielle a common name?
We classify Donnielle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donnielle most popular?
The single biggest year for Donnielle was 1986, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donnielle is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donnielle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 158 people with the name Donnielle, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,091 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 Donnielle 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 Donnielle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donnielle leans strongly female. 145 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 5 male bearers (3.3%). 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 Donnielle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donnielle is White at 48.1%. The next largest groups are Black (35.4%) and Two or More Races (7.6%). 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 Donnielle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donnielle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.1% (76 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 Donnielle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donnielle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donnielle 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 Donnielle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donnielle 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 Donnielle 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 share the name Donnielle?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.