Girls' name · peaked in 1959
Donna name popularity since 1925
820,954 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Donna. Half of them were born in 1955 or earlier, so the typical Donna is about 71 years old in 2026. Donna peaked in 1959 as the #5 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 820,954
- Named Donna, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,965 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.7% girls
- 818,731 girls · 2,223 boys
- Most popular in
- Rhode Island
- 2.07× its national share
Peak year is the year Donna made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Donna births per year, 1925–2025
1959 was the biggest year for Donna both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1925 and 1930, Donna became 2.7× more common.
- Steepest fall: Between 1972 and 1977, its share of baby girls fell by 59%, from 1 in 243 to 1 in 594.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Donna's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Donna.
Decade by decade
Babies named Donna in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 19,038 | 53 | – |
| 1930s | 78,846 | 315 | #23 |
| 1940s | 165,523 | 472 | #17 |
| 1950s | 270,338 | 504 | #10 |
| 1960s | 213,468 | 574 | #7 |
| 1970s | 47,342 | 218 | #85 |
| 1980s | 13,044 | 73 | #219 |
| 1990s | 5,662 | 14 | #498 |
| 2000s | 3,186 | 0 | #834 |
| 2010s | 1,641 | 0 | #1,441 |
| 2020–25 | 643 | 0 | #1,965 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
60.5% of babies named Donna from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Donna is most popular
The index compares Donna'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 Donna.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | 2.07× | 6,050 |
| South Dakota | 1.76× | 4,625 |
| West Virginia | 1.63× | 11,808 |
| Massachusetts | 1.61× | 31,577 |
| Maine | 1.56× | 5,519 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Donna and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Donna (this page) | 818,731 | 1959 |
| Dona | 16,089 | 1933 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Donna's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Donna.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Donna (1959).
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