Donnis
Feminine
Donnis is given to both — 1,046 girls and 466 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Donnis was made in the decades when English was manufacturing women's names out of men's at industrial speed. Between the wars a country full of Donalds, Georges and Roberts produced Donna, Georgene, Roberta, Donnis and several hundred more, most of them assembled in a kitchen rather than inherited from anywhere.
How old is the name Donnis?
Donnis first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Donnis alive today was born around 1944, making them about 81 years old. About 600 people named Donnis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Donnis most popular?
Donnis peaked in 1936, reaching #1245 nationally. See the whole 1936 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Donald near the top of the American boys' charts to Donnis
Our story of Donnis
The manufacture of women's names from men's is one of the largest things that has ever happened to English naming, and it is almost never described as an event. For roughly a century — call it the 1880s to the 1960s — American families took whatever men's name was in the house and made a daughter's name from it, using any ending that came to hand: a, ine, ette, elle, is, ene. Roberta, Geraldine, Paulette, Michelle, Donnis. The practice has now almost entirely stopped, and the names it produced date their bearers to within about a decade. What replaced it was the reverse: surnames and men's names given to daughters unaltered.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The front is almost certainly Donald, a Gaelic name built on words for world and rule, which was near the top of the American boys' charts in exactly the years this name appears. The ending is harder: it may be the Greek ending that gave English Doris, Phyllis and Iris, all of which were fashionable at the time, or it may simply be a sound the family liked. Nothing in the record chooses between them.
How the name formed
- Donald near the top of the American boys' charts
- English endings available to make women's names from men's
- Donnis appears in the record in the 1910s
- peaks in the 1930s
- recorded for daughters and sons alike
Related forms: Donna · Donnie
Pronouncing Donnis
DON-iss
Two syllables, stress at the front. The doubled n keeps the first vowel short, which is the only job it has.
Nicknames for Donnis
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 girls named
- 194842 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1245reached in 1936
- Change vs 1977
- +20.0%6 in 1981, 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.
Donnis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Donna in English — related form
- Donnie in English — related form
Donniss among us
people named Donnis 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
Donnis 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 is short, entirely readable and impossible to mispronounce.
- It works for a child of either sex, and the record carries it on both sides.
- It belongs to a real and well-documented period of American naming.
- It will be heard as Doris, Denise and Donna by almost everyone.
- There is no meaning to give her beyond the men's name it was probably built from.
- It is firmly of the first half of the last century.
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What they receive
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Donnis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Donniss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Donnis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Donnis in 2025?
- Donnis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Donnis with classmates?
- Donnis 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 Donnis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Donnis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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