Humanverse

Dona vs Dontez

American parents have registered 19,032 Donas since 1880, against 1,026 Dontezes. But in 2025 it was Dontez that was commoner, 8 babies to 5.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Dona against Dontez, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Dona Dontez

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Dona for 112 years and Dontez for 34 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Dona Dontez
Total US births 19,0321,026
Most in one year 49245
Babies in 2025 58
Estimated living today 9,4001,000
Median age today 7027
Peak year 19541993
Best rank 391st girls1,850th boys
Rank in 2025 14,942nd8,910th
First recorded 18801973
Girls / boys 18,857 / 1750 / 1,026

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Donas alive today are over 70; half the Dontezes are over 27. That is 43 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Dona and Dontez.