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Donna vs Donzell

American parents have registered 833,874 Donnas since 1880, against 1,073 Donzells. Donna is still ahead, with 98 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Donna against Donzell, 1880 to 2025 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Donna Donzell

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

Donna has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2017, when Donna had 124 and Donzell had 10.

Side by side

  Donna Donzell
Total US births 833,8741,073
Most in one year 36,53946
Babies in 2025 986
Estimated living today 594,000920
Median age today 6739
Peak year 19591990
Best rank 5th girls1,730th boys
Rank in 2025 1,962nd10,695th
First recorded 18801919
Girls / boys 831,641 / 2,23323 / 1,050

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 Donnas alive today are over 67; half the Donzells are over 39. That is 28 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: Donna and Donzell.