Donavon
Masculine · “Descendant of the dark brown one”
Donavon is Donovan respelled, and Donovan is an Irish surname with a color in it: Ó Donnabháin runs on donn, brown, and dubh, dark. The American peak in 1971 sits at the height of a Scottish folk singer's fame.
How old is the name Donavon?
Donavon first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Donavon alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 4,500 people named Donavon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Donavon most popular?
Donavon peaked in 1971, reaching #914 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 4,694 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ó Donnabháin to Donavon
The story of Donavon
The Ó Donnabháin were a Munster family displaced from Limerick to west Cork after the Norman invasion, and the surname spread widely with emigration. As a given name Donovan appears in American records from the 1920s and rises sharply from the 1960s. Donovan Leitch, the Scottish singer, had a run of international hits from 1965 through the early 1970s, and the American birth records climb through those years and peak in 1971. Donavon, Donavan and Donnovan all appear as variants alongside it.
Meaning
Descendant of the dark brown one
From Irish Ó Donnabháin, from a personal name built on donn, brown, and dubh, dark or black — a byname describing hair or complexion. The reading is standard. The -avon spelling of Donavon is an American variant with no separate history, and has nothing to do with the river Avon.
How the name formed
- Ó Donnabháin
- Donovan
- Donavon
Related forms: Ó Donnabháin · Donovan
Pronouncing Donavon
DON-uh-vun
Three syllables, stress on the first. The Irish Ó Donnabháin is closer to oh-DUN-a-vawn, which is a different name to the ear.
Nicknames for Donavon
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 2000156 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #914reached in 1971
- Change vs 2023
- −44.8%16 in 2025, from 29
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Donavon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Donnabháin in Irish — related form
- Donovan in English — spelling variant
Donavons among us
people named Donavon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Donavon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Mikeal test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Donavon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mikeal climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mikeal's path sketches the road Donavon is walking now.
Donavon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Donavon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Donavon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Irish meaning is settled and easy to explain.
- Don and Van are both complete short forms with their own histories.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- Donovan is the standard spelling and will be written for it.
- Donovan, Donavon, Donavan and Donnovan are four spellings of one sound.
- It is closely dated to the 1960s and 1970s.
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What they receive
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Donavon
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Donavons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,500 people named Donavon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Donavon in 2025?
- Donavon ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Donavon?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Donavon — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Donavon with classmates?
- Donavon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Donavon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Donavon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Donavon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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