How common is the surname Donovan?

40,410 people in the United States had the surname Donovan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,640 Americans. It ranked 853rd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Donovan?

In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Donovan identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Donovan?

Landon Donovan, American soccer player, followed by Tate Donovan.

Where is the surname Donovan most common?

Wikidata records people named Donovan in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Donovan?

Donovan is /ˈdɒnəvɪn/, 3 syllables.

Is the surname Donovan getting more or less common?

More common. 39,270 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 40,410 in 2010, up 2.9%.

Is Donovan also a first name?

Yes. Donovan 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.

The surname Donovan

An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 40,410 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈdɒnəvɪn/ 3 syllables Soundex D515 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Donovan is more common than 99.5% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

From Irish Ó Donndubháin (“descendant of (a person named) brown & black”), from donn (“brown”) and dubh (“black”).

Donovan is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 40,410 people named Donovan in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 7,640 Americans. That is up 2.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 39,270.

#853

rank among US surnames

40,410

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+2.9%

change since 2000 (was #799)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#844	House	41,000	7,530
#845	Reilly	40,884	7,552
#846	Pennington	40,854	7,557
#847	Michael	40,736	7,579
#848	Conrad	40,707	7,585
#849	Giles	40,598	7,605
#850	Benjamin	40,590	7,606

Who is named Donovan

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

93% of people named Donovan identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.0% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 93%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.8%
Black (not Hispanic) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Donovans

27 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Landon Donovan
American soccer player, born 1982
Tate Donovan
American actor (born 1963)
Martin Donovan
American actor (born 1957)
Jeffrey Donovan
American actor (born 1968)
Jason Donovan
Australian actor and singer, born 1968
Anne Donovan
American basketball player and coach (1961–2018)
Trevor Donovan
American actor, born 1978
Shaun Donovan
American government official, born 1966
Elisa Donovan
American actress, born 1971
James B. Donovan
American diplomat and politician, 1916–1970
Marion Donovan
American inventor and architect (1917–1998)
Edward Donovan
Anglo-Irish writer, natural history illustrator, and amateur zoologist (1768-1837)

Notable Donovans come mostly from the United States (23), Australia (2) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Donavan

Donovan has the Soundex code D515, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D515.

Other Irish surnames

All 880 Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Donovan come from?: From Irish Ó Donndubháin (“descendant of (a person named) brown & black”), from donn (“brown”) and dubh (“black”).
How common is the surname Donovan?: 40,410 people in the United States had the surname Donovan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,640 Americans. It ranked 853rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Donovan?: In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Donovan identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Donovan?: Landon Donovan, American soccer player, followed by Tate Donovan.
Where is the surname Donovan most common?: Wikidata records people named Donovan in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Donovan?: Donovan is /ˈdɒnəvɪn/, 3 syllables.
What type of surname is Donovan?: Donovan is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Donovan getting more or less common?: More common. 39,270 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 40,410 in 2010, up 2.9%.
What are other spellings of Donovan?: Donavan.
Is Donovan also a first name?: Yes. Donovan 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.