Origin and popularity of the name DONALD

Origin

Donald : 1: Scottish: shortened form of McDonald (Mac Dhomhnaill) from the Gaelic personal name Domhnall; found in 13th- and 14th-century Scotland as Dofnald Douenald Dufenald and Donald.2: Irish (Ulster): possibly also a shortened and altered form of Irish O'Donell.

Daniel : 1: English French Spanish Portuguese German Polish Czech Slovak Romanian Jewish Assyrian/Chaldean West Indian (mainly Haiti) and African (mainly Nigeria and Tanzania); Breton (rarely Le Daniel); Hungarian (Dániel): from the Biblical personal name Daniel Syriac (Assyrian/Chaldean) Dānīʾēl Hungarian Dániel (from Hebrew Daniyyel ‘God is my judge’) borne by a major prophet in the Bible. The chief factor influencing the popularity of the personal name (and hence the frequency of the surname) was undoubtedly the dramatic story in the Book of Daniel recounting the prophet's steadfast adherence to his religious faith despite pressure and persecution from the Mesopotamian kings in whose court he served: Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar and Darius. The name was also borne by a 2nd-century Christian martyr and by a 9th-century hermit the legend of whose lives were popular among Christians during the Middle Ages. Among Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe the name was also popular as being that of a 4th-century Persian martyr who was venerated in the Orthodox Church. In France this surname is most common in Brittany.2: Irish (Tipperary and Waterford): shortened form of McDaniel which is actually a variant of McDonnell from the Gaelic form of Irish Donal (equivalent to Scottish Donald) erroneously associated with the Biblical personal name Daniel. See also O'Donnell.3: Americanized or Germanized form of Slovenian Danijel: from the Biblical personal name Danijel ‘Daniel’ (see 1 above).

Donlon : Irish (Roscommon): shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Domhnalláin ‘descendant of Domhnallán’ a diminutive of the personal name Domhnall Anglicized in Ireland as Donall or Daniel and in Scotland as Donald.

McDonald : Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Domhnaill ‘son of Domhnall’ a name derived from the Celtic elements domno- ‘world’ + val- ‘might rule’. Donald is an Anglicized form (via Latin) of this personal name used in Scotland though the surname is also widespread in Ireland. The name is equivalent to Irish McDonnell and McConnell and to Manx Cannell.

O'Donald : Irish: Scotticized form of O'Donnell. The Irish personal name Domhnall was Latinized as Donaldus which is the source of Donald the form of the personal name used in English in Scotland though not in Ireland. The form O'Donald is therefore a 19th-century hybrid. Compare Donald.

Shewan : see Sawin and compare Donald Schewaneson 1431 in Family of Rose of Kilravock and John Schewynsoun witness in Dundrennan 1545 in Laing Charters.

More

Subject to the Terms and Conditions of Ancestry

Surname frequency

Geographic distribution of the 27,799 individuals with the name DONALD on Geneanet.

This last name in the family trees

See below the Geneanet members' family trees which contain the last name DONALD