US baby names · Girls · 1880–2025
Donna: name popularity by year
How often US parents chose Donna for a baby girl, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.
Donna was one of the 10 most common girls' names in the US in 12 years, between 1947 and 1965, reaching #5. Births peaked in 1959, when 36,468 baby girls were named Donna, so by peak year it is a Baby Boomers name.
Donna in the US top 10, by year
Rank among girls' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Donna (1959).
Top-10 years by generation
| Generation | Years in top 10 | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 11 (1947–1964) | #5 |
| Generation X | 1 (1965) | #7 |
Every top-10 year
Questions people ask
When was the name Donna most popular?
By number of babies, in 1959, when 36,468 girls were given the name. By rank, it reached #5 and spent 12 years in the top 10.
What generation is the name Donna?
Its peak year, 1959, falls in Baby Boomers (1946–1964). Its 12 top-10 years fall in: Baby Boomers (11), Generation X (1).
How many people have been named Donna?
SSA counted 831,641 girls named Donna born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.
In the top 10 at the same time
Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Donna are alive today.