Donyelle
A feminine name of unknown origin, potentially a variant of Danielle.
Name Census estimates that about 367 living Americans carry the first name Donyelle. It is a predominantly female name (96.2% of registrations). The average person named Donyelle today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Donyelle births was 1974 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Donyelle. 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
367
~ 1 in 933,936 Americans
Peak year
1974
24 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
1977 SSA rank
#6,110
Tracked since 1967
Census
Donyelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 382 people with the first name Donyelle, which placed it at #24,991 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
#24,991
National first-name rank
People counted
382
382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Donyelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donyelle is Black at 71.7%. The next largest groups are White (17.8%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Donyelle 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 Donyelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.7% · 274
- White17.8% · 68
- Two or more races6.0% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Donyelle
Donyelle leans heavily female at 96.2% of total registrations, but 15 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Donyelle as a male name
- Ranked #6,110 in 1977
- 5 male births in 1977
- Peak: 1971 (5 births)
Donyelle as a female name
- Ranked #16,525 in 2017
- 5 female births in 2017
- Peak: 1974 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donyelle leans strongly female. 323 people counted with this name were female (84.8%), compared with 58 male bearers (15.2%).
Popularity
Donyelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Donyelle from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 145 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Donyelle 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 Donyelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Donyelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Michigan, Indiana, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Donyelle, while Louisiana, Indiana, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Donyelle
The name Donyelle is a modern variation of the French name Donne, which itself is derived from the Latin name Donna. The Latin Donna is a feminine form of the title Dominus, meaning "Lord" or "Master." It was initially used as an honorific title for women of high social rank or nobility in Medieval Europe.
The first recorded use of the name Donyelle dates back to the early 20th century in certain regions of France and Belgium. It gained popularity as a more unique and distinctive alternative to the traditional French names Donne and Donelle.
While the name Donyelle does not have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its Latin root, Dominus, was widely used in Christian contexts to refer to God or Jesus Christ as the "Lord" or "Master."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Donyelle was Donyelle Gaudin, a French actress born in 1923. She appeared in several French films in the 1940s and 1950s.
Another notable figure was Donyelle Preminger, an American film producer and daughter of the renowned director Otto Preminger. She was born in 1936 and produced several films in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the world of literature, Donyelle Roucayrol was a French author and poet born in 1949. She published several collections of poetry and novels throughout her career.
Donyelle Lamothe, born in 1968, was a French fashion designer and entrepreneur who launched her own clothing line in the 1990s.
Lastly, Donyelle Downing, an American singer and songwriter born in 1978, achieved success in the late 1990s and early 2000s with her blend of R&B and pop music.
While the name Donyelle is not as common as its more traditional counterparts, it has been carried by various individuals across different fields, showcasing its unique and distinctive nature throughout history.
People
Donyelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Donyelle 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
Donyelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donyelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 367 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Donyelle 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 933,936 US residents.
Is Donyelle a common name?
We classify Donyelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 393 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Donyelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Donyelle was 1974, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Donyelle is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Donyelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 382 people with the name Donyelle, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,991 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 Donyelle 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 Donyelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Donyelle leans strongly female. 323 people counted with this name were female (84.8%), compared with 58 male bearers (15.2%). 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 Donyelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Donyelle is Black at 71.7%. The next largest groups are White (17.8%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Donyelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Donyelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.7% (274 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 Donyelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Donyelle a female name?
Yes, 96.2% of people registered as Donyelle 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 Donyelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Donyelle 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 Donyelle 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 the name Donyelle?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.