Boys' name · peaked in 1934
Don name popularity since 1925
154,960 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Don (0.7% girls, 99.3% boys). Half of them were born in 1948 or earlier, so the typical Don is about 78 years old in 2026. Don peaked in 1934 as the #50 name for boys, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 154,960
- Named Don, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1934
- #50 for boys that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,795 for boys in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.3% boys
- 1,020 girls · 153,940 boys
- Most popular in
- Oklahoma
- 2.87× its national share
Peak year is the year Don made up the largest share of US boys, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Don births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1946. Measured as a share of all babies, Don peaked in 1934.
- Fastest rise: Between 1925 and 1930, Don became 1.8× more common.
- Steepest fall: Between 1946 and 1951, its share of baby boys fell by 45%, from 1 in 395 to 1 in 719.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Don's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Don.
Decade by decade
Babies named Don in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 131 | 10,823 | – |
| 1930s | 268 | 35,980 | #51 |
| 1940s | 167 | 36,255 | #73 |
| 1950s | 153 | 29,452 | #125 |
| 1960s | 145 | 22,123 | #157 |
| 1970s | 112 | 8,496 | #258 |
| 1980s | 39 | 4,989 | #381 |
| 1990s | 5 | 2,638 | #597 |
| 2000s | 0 | 1,530 | #1,156 |
| 2010s | 0 | 1,072 | #1,445 |
| 2020–25 | 0 | 582 | #1,795 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
40.5% of babies named Don from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Don is most popular
The index compares Don's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Don.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 2.87× | 5,710 |
| Wyoming | 2.53× | 522 |
| Idaho | 2.41× | 1,460 |
| Arkansas | 2.26× | 3,545 |
| Montana | 2.19× | 975 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Don and were given to at least 1,000 boys from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Boys | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Don (this page) | 153,940 | 1934 |
| Donn | 6,207 | 1949 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Don's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Don.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Don (1934).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data