Donnell

Where Donnell comes from

Donnell hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1912
    First appearance
    #2,045 among boys, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1968
    Peak, #479
    248 babies named Donnell — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1970
    Donnell Rawlings born
    American actor and comedian
  4. 1980
    Donnell Harvey born
    American basketball player
  5. 2002
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,154.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Donnell Harvey · American basketball player, born 1980
  • Donnell Rawlings · American actor and comedian, born 1970
  • Donnell Young · American sprinter, 1888–1989
  • Donnell Whittenburg · American artistic gymnast, born 1994
  • Donnell Bennett · American football player, born 1972

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.