Donnell
Masculine · “descended from the world-ruler”
Donnell is given to both — 14,279 boys and 1,026 girls since 1880. See Donnell as a girl 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 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Donnell alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 12,000 people named Donnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Donnell most popular?
Donnell peaked in 1968, reaching #479 nationally. Today it ranks #4050, 3,571 places below that high. See the whole 1968 chart.
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 1970271 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #479reached in 1968
- Change vs 2023
- +13.0%26 in 2025, from 23
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Illinois, California.
Donnells among us
people named Donnell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 65,695 born in 2025 was named Donnell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Donnell
- #4050
- Donnell on the 2025 chart
- #889
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Donnell went to 26 boys in 2025, but Donell is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 39, which makes it the 889th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,161 places above the chart.
- Donnell26
- Donell13
About 1 boy in 43,797 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 65,695 for Donnell itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Cornell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Donnell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cornell climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cornell's path sketches the road Donnell is walking now.
Donnell 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
Where Donnell is headed
Donnell is easing off slowly — about 27% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Donnell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Donnell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Donnell
Masculine · #4050 in the U.S.
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 12,000 people named Donnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Donnell?
- Donnell is the most-used spelling in US records — 26 of the 39 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Donell.
- How popular is the name Donnell in 2025?
- Donnell ranks #4050 among US boy names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Donnell?
- About 1 in every 65,695 US boys born in 2025 was named Donnell — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Donnell with classmates?
- Donnell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Donnell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Myer#4050 · Hewitt#4050 · Antonino#4050 · Egan#4050 · Johnmichael#4050 · Gauge#4050 · Emran#4050 · Freeman#4050
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Donnell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Donnell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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