Donald

Scottish
"proud chief"

Donald Origin and Meaning

The name Donald is a boy's name of Scottish origin meaning "proud chief".

Donald has been used for centuries in Scotland, where the Macdonald clan is one of the most ancient and where there have been six early Scottish kings by that name. Donald was a Top 20 name throughout most of the early twentieth century. But first there was the quacking Donald Duck, introduced in 1934, to affect its image, and then there was The Donald Trump, leaving it drained of much baby appeal. Trump's surprising run to the presidency didn't save Donald's decline on the baby name charts; it fell 47 spots between 2015 and 2016, from 441 to 488, and is now a less popular name than it's been since records have been kept.

Aside from Donald Sutherland, most contemporary real and fictive Donalds go by nicknames--as in Donny Osmond, Donnie Wahlberg, Don Rickles and Don Draper. More promising and more authentically Celtic sounding is Donal, which is quite commonly used in Ireland, or surname cousins Donnelly or Donovan.

# 657 in the US

Donald Rank in US Top 1000

# 1007 on Nameberry

Donald Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Donald Popularity

Famous People Named Donald

  • Donald I
    III, Kings of Scots
  • Donald Henry Rumsfeld
    13th and 21st U.S. Secretary of Defense
  • Donald Franciszek Tusk
    former Prime Minister of Poland; President of the European Council
  • Donald Adeosun Faison
    American actor
  • Donald McNichol Sutherland
    American actor; father of actor Keifer Sutherland
  • Donald Henry Pleasence
    English actor
  • Donald Edmond "Donnie" Wahlberg
    American actor
  • Isaac Donald "Don" Everly
    American singer,songwriter of The Everly Brothers
  • Donald Driver
    American NFL football player
  • Donald Mckinley Glover
    American actor
  • Donald "Duck" Dunn
    American bass guitarist
  • Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle
    American actor
  • Donald Eugene "Don" Gibson
    American country music songwriter
  • Donald Cargill
    Scottish Covenanter preacher
  • Donald A. Glaser
    winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
  • Donald J. Cram
    winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  • Donald Marland Hewlett
    English actor
  • Donald Hawkins
    American NFL football player
  • Donald George Bradman
    Australian cricketer
  • Donald James Yarmy
    birth name of Don Adams, American actor
  • Donald Tai Loy "Don" Ho
    American pop singer
  • Donald Clark "Don" Kirshner
    American music publisher and producer
  • Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth
    American animator and director
  • Donald Orlando "Duck" Bailey
    American jazz drummer
  • Donald Maynard Brashear
    American,Canadian ice hockey player
  • Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke
    American baseball pitcher
  • Donald Cortez "Don" Cornelius
    American TV host
  • George William "Donald" Crisp
    Anglo,American actor
  • Donald Campbell Dewar
    1st Minister of Scotland
  • Donald Allan "Don" Dunstan
    35th Premier of South Australia
  • Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond
    American singer and actor
  • Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture "Donald" Byrd
    American jazz and R&B trumpeter
  • Donald Tsang (Yam
    kuen), 2nd Chief Executive of Hong Kong
  • Donald John Trump
    45th U.S. president
  • Donald Sterling
    American businessman, and former basketball team owner
  • Donald James Matthew Blakeslee
    American WWII flying ace
  • Donald Ervin Knuth
    American computer scientist
  • Donald John Trump Jr
    son of President Donald Trump
  • Kriss Donald (b. 1988)
    15 year old white Scottish boy who was kidnapped and murdered because he was white in 2004

Donald in Pop Culture

  • Donald Duck
    Disney character
  • Donald "Don" Draper
    main character on TV's "Mad Men"
  • Donald "Dock" O'Kelly
    also known as Father Daniel Flynn, character in film "Bad Times at the El Royale"
  • Detective Donald "Don" Flack Jr.
    character on TV's "CSI: New York"
  • Donald "Ducky" Mallard
    character on TV's "NCIS"
  • Donald Ronald "Donny" Douglas
    character on TV's "Frasier"
  • Donald
    Capuchin monkey in movie "Zookeeper"
  • Donald "Donnie" Stevens
    character on TV's "Even Stevens"
  • Donald "Don" Eppes
    main character on TV's "Numb3rs"
  • Donald Ressler
    character on TV's "The Blacklist"
  • McDonald's
    restaurant chain
  • Donald Davenport
    character on TV's "Lab Rats"
  • Donald Pierce
    character in "X,Men"
  • Donald
    one of the main four characters from Platoon of Power Squadron
  • Donald Leslie "Don" Orville
    Police officer on TV show "3rd Rock from the Sun"
  • Captain Donald "Don" Cragen
    character on TV shows "Law and Order" and "Law and Order: SVU"