# Donald (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/donald/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 12,367 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,899 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 24,965 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.1% (11,763 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdɑn.əld/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Name of Scottish kings and an early saint, from Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall and reinforced by Medieval Latin Donvaldus ~ Donaldus, from Old Irish Domnall, from Proto-Celtic *Dubnowalos (“prince / chief of the world”). Doublet of Domhnall.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Donald in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 52% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 42% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Donald in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Donald

- Juliana Donald, American actress
- James Donald, British actor (1917–1993)
- Aaron Donald, American football player (born 1991)
- Jason Donald, American baseball player
- David Herbert Donald, American historian of the American Civil War
- Larry Donald, American boxer

## Similar surnames

Donaldson, Denault.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.