Donn
Masculine · “brown”
Donn is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,553 boys against 62 girls since 1880.
Donn is a god in Irish myth, and not a cheerful one. He is the lord of the dead, and Tech Duinn — the house of Donn, a rock off the southwest coast — is where the dead were said to gather before going on. The name is also Donald with a letter added, and in American records it is almost always that.
How old is the name Donn?
Donn first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Donn alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 3,700 people named Donn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Donn most popular?
Donn peaked in 1949, reaching #366 nationally. See the whole 1949 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Donn
Donn appears in the Irish origin legend as one of the sons of Mil who died on the way to Ireland and became the gatherer of the dead, and his house is a real rock, Bull Rock off County Cork, with a natural tunnel through it that boats can pass. The story survived in folklore for centuries after the mythology had gone. Whether any American Donn was named with that in mind is doubtful — the far likelier route is Donald, or Don with a second n added, which is what English does to a short name that would otherwise look unfinished.
Meaningscholars disagree
brown; dark
The Irish donn means brown or dark-haired, and the god's name is generally read against it. If instead this is Donald shortened, the meaning is the Gaelic compound behind that name — world-ruler — and the doubled n is a spelling choice with no history. Both are live: the Irish word is genuine and so is the American habit of doubling a final consonant, and the record does not distinguish them.
Pronouncing Donn
DON
DON, one syllable, rhyming with on. The doubled n is silent — English doubles a final consonant as a visual convention and does not lengthen it — so Don and Donn are identical in the mouth.
Nicknames for Donn
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 1950250 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #366reached in 1949
- Change vs 2019
- −37.5%5 in 2024, from 8
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.
Donn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Donn in Irish — same name
- Dòmhnall in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Donns among us
people named Donn are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Donn sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable, four letters, and unambiguous in sound.
- The Irish mythology behind the name is real and almost nobody knows it.
- Donald and Donnie are both available as longer versions.
- Don is the standard spelling and the second n will be dropped by nearly everyone.
- The doubled letter is inaudible, so it has to be dictated every time.
- It goes to girls as well in the record, so on a form it settles less than it appears to.
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Donn
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Donns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,700 people named Donn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Donn in 2025?
- Donn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Donn with classmates?
- Donn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
David#35 · Daniel#22 · Donald#690 · Dennis#707 · Douglas#807 · Dylan#41 · Danny#628 · Dale#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Donn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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