How Many People Are Named Donel?
An estimated 473 people in the United States have the first name Donel. It is predominantly male (95.8%). The average bearer is 56 years old, and Donel peaked in popularity in 1970 with 23 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Donel as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Donel paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
473
About 1 in 724,639 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Very Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
95.8% confidence
Average Age
56
years old
Peak Year
1970
23 births
Total Registered
721
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Donel
Donel is predominantly male (95.8%), though 30 female births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Donel as a male name
Ranked #11,086 in 2014
6 male births in 2014
Peak: 1970 (18 births)
Donel as a female name
Ranked #7,093 in 1974
7 female births in 1974
Peak: 1968 (7 births)
Donel: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Donel span from the 1910s to the 2010s, covering 11 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1970s, when 109 babies were registered. Donel has declined significantly from its peak in the 1970s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Donel by Decade
How has Donel tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Donel + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Donel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Donel
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
Donel: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Donel?
We estimate approximately 473 people named Donel are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 724,639 Americans share this first name.
Is Donel a common name?
Donel is classified as "Very Rare" and is more popular than 84% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 721 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Donel most popular?
Donel reached peak popularity in 1970, when 23 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Donel is approximately 56 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Donel a male name?
Donel is predominantly male. 95.8% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Donel Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Donel Smith, Donel Johnson, Donel Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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