Humanverse

Donnie vs Donzell

American parents have registered 68,060 Donnies since 1880, against 1,073 Donzells. Donnie is still ahead, with 89 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Donnie against Donzell, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Donnie 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

Donnie 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 1990, when Donnie had 348 and Donzell had 46.

Side by side

  Donnie Donzell
Total US births 68,0601,073
Most in one year 1,91246
Babies in 2025 896
Estimated living today 45,000920
Median age today 6339
Peak year 19521990
Best rank 156th boys1,730th boys
Rank in 2025 1,793rd10,695th
First recorded 18801919
Girls / boys 7,132 / 60,92823 / 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 Donnies alive today are over 63; half the Donzells are over 39. That is 24 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: Donnie and Donzell.