Donovin
Anglicized version of the Irish name Donndubhán meaning "little brown one".
Name Census estimates that about 784 living Americans carry the first name Donovin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Donovin today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donovin births was 2003 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donovin. 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
784
~ 1 in 437,187 Americans
Peak year
2003
53 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,341
Tracked since 1985
Census
Donovin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 664 people with the first name Donovin, which placed it at #16,834 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
#16,834
National first-name rank
People counted
664
664 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donovin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donovin is White at 40.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.5%) and Black (18.7%). 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 Donovin 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 Donovin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.5% · 269
- Hispanic or Latino23.5% · 156
- Black or African American18.7% · 124
- Two or more races10.8% · 72
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 15
Popularity
Donovin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donovin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 422 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donovin 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 Donovin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donovins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Donovin, while Ohio, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Donovin
The name Donovin has its roots in Celtic and Gaelic cultures, originating from the ancient Irish name "Donndubhán," which means "brown-haired little chief" or "brown little ruler." This name is derived from the Irish words "donn" (brown) and "dubhán" (little chief or ruler).
The earliest recorded use of the name Donovin dates back to the 12th century in Ireland, where it was a common name among the noble and ruling classes. It was particularly popular among the O'Donnell clan, one of the most powerful and influential families in Ulster, Northern Ireland.
In ancient Irish literature and historical records, the name Donovin appears in various forms, such as Donndubhán, Donnubhan, and Donovan. One notable historical reference is the Irish legend of Donndubhán, a heroic figure who fought against the invading Norsemen in the 9th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Donovin or its variations. One of the earliest recorded was Donndubhán Ó Donnubháin (c. 1120 - c. 1185), an Irish poet and leader of the O'Donovan clan in County Cork, Ireland.
Another prominent figure was Donndubhán Muireadhaigh (c. 1293 - c. 1368), a renowned Irish poet and scholar who composed numerous works in the Irish language.
In the 16th century, Donndubhán Ó Máille (c. 1535 - c. 1595) was a notable Irish chieftain and leader of the Ó Máille clan in County Mayo, Ireland.
Moving to more recent times, Donovan Leitch (born in 1946), known professionally as Donovan, is a Scottish singer-songwriter and influential figure in the British folk and psychedelic rock movements of the 1960s.
Finally, Donovin Darius (born in 1974) is a former American football player who played as a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons.
While the name Donovin has evolved over time and has been adopted across various cultures, its origins can be traced back to the ancient Celtic and Gaelic traditions of Ireland, where it was a name associated with nobility, leadership, and literary excellence.
People
Donovin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donovin 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
Donovin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donovin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 784 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donovin 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 437,187 US residents.
Is Donovin a common name?
We classify Donovin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 794 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donovin most popular?
The single biggest year for Donovin was 2003, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donovin is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donovin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 664 people with the name Donovin, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,834 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 Donovin 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 Donovin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donovin leans strongly male. 661 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Donovin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donovin is White at 40.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.5%) and Black (18.7%). 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 Donovin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Donovin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.5% (269 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 Donovin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donovin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Donovin 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 Donovin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donovin 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 Donovin 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 have Donovin as a first name?
You can see how many Americans are named Donovin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.