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Donald

Name list

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
10 min read
Source updated September 3, 2026

Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name Dòmhnall. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *Dumno-ualos ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -d in Donald is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the Gaelic pronunciation by English speakers. A short form of Donald is Don, and pet forms of Donald include Donnie and Donny. The feminine given name Donella is derived from Donald.

Donald has cognates in other Celtic languages: Modern Irish Dónal (anglicised as Donal and Donall); Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall, Domhnull and Dòmhnull; Welsh Dyfnwal and Cumbric Dumnagual. Although the feminine given name Donna is sometimes used as a feminine form of Donald, the names are not etymologically related.

01Variations

Language Spelling Pronunciation
Old IrishDomhnall
Modern IrishDónal
Hiberno-EnglishDonal
Scottish EnglishDonald
ScotsDonnald
IrishDónall[ˈd̪ˠoːnˠəl̪ˠ]
Manx GaelicDolyn[ˈdðolən]
Scottish GaelicDòmhnall[ˈt̪õːəl̪ˠ]

02Kings and noblemen

Domnall or Domhnall is the name of many ancient and medieval Gaelic kings and noblemen:

03People with the given name

Domhnall

Don

Donal

Dónal

Donald

Donaldo

Donnell

04Fictional characters

Watch videos about DonaldExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Donald”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

List of Irish-language given names

This list of Irish-language given names shows Irish language given names, their anglicisations and/or English language equivalents. Not all Irish given names have English equivalents, though most names have an anglicised form.

List of Scottish Gaelic given names

This list of Scottish Gaelic given names shows Scottish Gaelic given names beside their English language equivalent. In some cases, the equivalent can be a cognate, in other cases it may be an Anglicised spelling derived from the Gaelic name, or in other cases it can be an etymologically unrelated name.

Clan Donald

Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Dòmhnaill; Mac Dòmhnaill [ˈkʰl̪ˠãũn̪ˠ ˈt̪õː.ɪʎ]), is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. Historically the chiefs of the Clan Donald held the title of Lord of the Isles until 1493 and two of those chiefs also held the title of Earl of Ross until 1476.