# Donner (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/donner/  
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 | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,068 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,664 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 60,921 people |
| Change since 2000 | -5.3% (5,349 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Donder, Dunder |

## Etymology

First attested in the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. Named from Dutch donder (“thunder”), and perhaps influenced by the German form Donner.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Donner 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) | 88% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 6.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Donner in the United States, Germany and Austria.

## People named Donner

- Richard Donner, American film director (1930–2021)
- Lauren Shuler Donner, American film producer
- Georg Rafael Donner, Austrian sculptor (1693–1741)
- Robert Donner, American actor (1931–2006)
- Fred Donner, American historian and scholar of Islam (born 1945)
- Jack Donner, American actor (1928–2019)
- Florinda Donner, American writer and anthropologist
- Helmut Donner, Austrian high jumper

## Similar surnames

Danner, Downer, Doner, Denner, Domer, Demaria, Damore, Diener, Deemer, Demery, Diemer, Dimauro.

## 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.