# Donna (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/donna/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Italian |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdɑnə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 833,874 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 2,233 / 831,641 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 445, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

A 19th-century invention from the Italian noun donna; also interpreted as a feminine form of Donald.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 199 | 1,204 |
| 2012 | 188 | 1,275 |
| 2013 | 176 | 1,329 |
| 2014 | 163 | 1,403 |
| 2015 | 160 | 1,441 |
| 2016 | 118 | 1,761 |
| 2017 | 124 | 1,716 |
| 2018 | 139 | 1,558 |
| 2019 | 116 | 1,764 |
| 2020 | 137 | 1,546 |
| 2021 | 105 | 1,888 |
| 2022 | 101 | 1,955 |
| 2023 | 99 | 1,988 |
| 2024 | 103 | 1,931 |
| 2025 | 98 | 1,965 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 13 | 2,984 |
| 1977 | 12 | 3,254 |
| 1978 | 15 | 2,826 |
| 1979 | 10 | 3,882 |
| 1980 | 5 | 6,515 |
| 1981 | 9 | 4,247 |
| 1982 | 11 | 3,758 |
| 1983 | 11 | 3,687 |
| 1984 | 5 | 6,587 |
| 1985 | 5 | 6,819 |
| 1986 | 7 | 5,488 |
| 1988 | 12 | 3,978 |
| 1989 | 8 | 5,786 |
| 1990 | 8 | 5,995 |
| 1993 | 6 | 7,901 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 10 | 2,392 |
| 2011 | 10 | 2,432 |
| 2012 | 5 | 4,171 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2,649 |
| 2014 | 6 | 3,514 |
| 2015 | 4 | 4,736 |
| 2016 | 8 | 2,966 |
| 2017 | 5 | 4,063 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3,518 |
| 2019 | 3 | 5,591 |
| 2020 | 6 | 3,447 |
| 2021 | 4 | 4,634 |
| 2022 | 3 | 5,669 |
| 2023 | 3 | 5,687 |
| 2024 | 3 | 5,891 |

## In other languages

- Chinese: 唐娜
- Greek: Ντόνα
- Japanese: ドナ
- Korean: 도나
- Polish: Donna
- Russian: До́нна

## People named Donna

- Donna Strickland, Canadian physicist, Nobel laurate
- Donna Summer, American singer (1948–2012)
- Donna Tartt, American writer
- Donna Reed, American film and television actress
- Donna Haraway, American philosopher, scholar in the field of science and technology studies (born 1944)
- Donna Vekić, Croatian tennis player
- Donna Karan, American fashion designer (born 1948)
- Donna Leon, American crime novelist (born 1942)
- Donna Murphy, American actress, singer
- Donna Douglas, American actress (1933-2015)
- Donna Mills, American actress
- Donna de Varona, American swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, former world record-holder, television sportscast

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.