Donnell
Feminine · “descended from the world-ruler”
Donnell is given to both — 1,026 girls and 14,279 boys since 1880. See Donnell as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Donnell is an Irish surname that America turned into a first name, and the man who carried it most famously escaped from Dublin Castle in midwinter, crossed the Wicklow mountains on foot and lost his toes to frostbite. He was about nineteen and had been a hostage since he was fifteen.
How old is the name Donnell?
Donnell first appears in US birth records in 1927 — 98 years ago. The typical Donnell alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 900 people named Donnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Donnell most popular?
Donnell peaked in 1969, reaching #1728 nationally. See the whole 1969 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Gaelic name compounded from world and rule to Donnell
The story of Donnell
Red Hugh O'Donnell was taken by trickery at fifteen — lured aboard a wine ship in Donegal — and held in Dublin Castle as security for his family's behavior. He escaped twice. The second attempt, on Christmas night in deep snow, took him and two companions over the Wicklow mountains without shoes; one companion died of exposure, and O'Donnell lost both big toes. He was back in Donegal within weeks, inaugurated as chief within months, and spent the next decade leading the last serious Gaelic resistance to the Tudor conquest.
Meaning
descended from the world-ruler
The surname is built on an old Gaelic personal name compounded from words for the world and for rule, and the family that carried it ruled the north-west of Ireland for centuries. As an American first name it arrives the way most Irish surnames did, through families who had it already, and it is one of the relatively few that stayed in use long enough to become a name in its own right.
How the name formed
- a Gaelic name compounded from world and rule
- the O'Donnells rule the north-west of Ireland
- the surname travels to America with emigration
- used as a first name from the 1910s
- an American peak in the late 1960s
Related forms: O Domhnaill · Domhnall · Donald
Pronouncing Donnell
duh-NEL
Two syllables with the stress at the back in American use. The Irish surname is said with the weight at the front, DON-ul, which is how families with the surname keep it.
Nicknames for Donnell
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
- 1927
- Most girls named
- 196949 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1728reached in 1969
- Change vs 1993
- 0.0%5 in 2006, from 5
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.
Donnell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- O Domhnaill in Irish — related form
- Domhnall in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Donald in English — related form
Donnells among us
people named Donnell 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
Donnell 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
- It carries a real Irish family history with a documented and dramatic story.
- Don is available and is a complete name in every English-speaking country.
- It works for a child of either sex, and the record carries it on both sides.
- The stress placement differs between the surname and the first-name readings.
- It will be heard as Donald, Darnell and O'Donnell by turns.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the last century in American use.
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What they receive
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Donnell
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Donnells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Donnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Donnell in 2025?
- Donnell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Donnell with classmates?
- Donnell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Donnell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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