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    The surname Donald

    A Scottish Gaelic surname, carried by 12,367 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈdɑn.əld/ 2 syllables Soundex D543 Also a first name

    Donald: #2,899 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Donald #2,899, 12,367 people Donald: #2,899 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Donald #2,899, 12,367 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Donald is more common than 98.2% of them.

    Origin

    Scottish Gaelic origin

    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.

    One of 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 12,367 people named Donald in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 24,965 Americans. That is up 5.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,763.

    #2,899
    rank among US surnames
    12,367
    people in 2010
    4.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +5.1%
    change since 2000 (was #2,802)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,891Bollinger12,42524,849
    #2,892Armendariz12,42324,853
    #2,893Denson12,41924,861
    #2,894Mixon12,39424,911
    #2,895Geary12,38224,935
    #2,896Montiel12,37624,947
    #2,897Santamaria12,37524,949

    Who is named Donald

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    52% of people named Donald identified as white (not Hispanic), 42% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as two or more races.

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

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Donalds

    6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Juliana Donald
      American actress, born 1964
    • James Donald
      British actor (1917–1993)
    • Aaron Donald
      American football player (born 1991)
    • Jason Donald
      American baseball player, born 1984
    • David Herbert Donald
      American historian of the American Civil War, 1920–2009
    • Larry Donald
      American boxer, born 1967

    Notable Donalds come mostly from the United States (5) and the United Kingdom (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Donald

    Donald has the Soundex code D543, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D543.

    Other Scottish Gaelic surnames

    All 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Donald come from?
    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.
    How common is the surname Donald?
    12,367 people in the United States had the surname Donald in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 24,965 Americans. It ranked 2,899th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Donald?
    In the 2010 Census, 52% of people named Donald identified as white (not Hispanic), and 42% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Donald?
    Juliana Donald, American actress, followed by James Donald.
    Where is the surname Donald most common?
    Wikidata records people named Donald in the United States and the United Kingdom.
    How do you pronounce Donald?
    Donald is /ˈdɑn.əld/, 2 syllables.
    Is the surname Donald getting more or less common?
    More common. 11,763 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,367 in 2010, up 5.1%.
    Is Donald also a first name?
    Yes. Donald is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.