Donte
Masculine · “enduring”
Donte is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 15,695 boys against 137 girls since 1880.
Donte respells Dante, and Dante is Durante shortened — enduring, in Latin — which is what the poet's own name meant.
How old is the name Donte?
Donte first appears in US birth records in 1961 — 64 years ago. The typical Donte alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 15,000 people named Donte are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Donte most popular?
Donte peaked in 1997, reaching #400 nationally. Today it ranks #1976, 1,576 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From durans to Donte
The story of Donte
Durante degli Alighieri wrote the Commedia in exile from Florence and effectively created literary Italian by doing it in the vernacular. His shortened name became a given name in its own right. American families produced Donte and Dontae as spellings from the 1970s, and Donte appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
enduring, steadfast
Through Dante, a medieval Italian shortening of Durante, from the Latin durans, 'enduring' or 'lasting'. The same root gives durable and duration. Dante Alighieri's given name was Durante. The Latin is ordinary and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- durans
- Durante
- Dante
- Donte
Related forms: Dante · Dontae · Durante
Pronouncing Donte
DON-tay
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some bearers say don-TAY with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Donte
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
- 1961
- Most boys named
- 1990536 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #400reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- −3.8%77 in 2025, from 80
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.
Donte in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dante in Italian — related form
- Dontae in English — spelling variant
- Durante in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Pennsylvania.
Dontes among us
people named Donte are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 22,183 born in 2025 was named Donte
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 Antwan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Donte's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Antwan climbed just as high around 1979, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Antwan's path sketches the road Donte is walking now.
Donte 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 Donte is headed
Donte is easing off slowly — about 16% 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.
Donte beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Donte in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The enduring meaning is transparent, undisputed and unusually good.
- The poet who created literary Italian carries the parent form.
- Don and Tay are two short forms, both with real use.
- Dante is the standard spelling and carries the literary association.
- The stress placement splits between two readings.
- It is period-coded to the 1980s and 1990s in American records.
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What they receive
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Donte
Masculine · #1976 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dontes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,000 people named Donte are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Donte in 2025?
- Donte ranks #1976 among US boy names in 2025, with 77 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Donte?
- About 1 in every 22,183 US boys born in 2025 was named Donte — 77 in all.
- Will my child share the name Donte with classmates?
- Donte will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Donte
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Winter#1976 · Davon#1976 · Jacobo#1976 · Khyree#1976 · Kru#1976 · Jaleel#1976 · Arrow#1976 · Yug#1976
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Donte? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Donte and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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