Donald

English

Etymology

Name of Scottish kings and an early saint, from Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall and reinforced by Medieval Latin Donvaldus ~ Donaldus, from Old Irish Domnall, from Proto-Celtic *Dubnowalos (“prince / chief of the world”). Doublet of Domhnall.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒn.əld/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑn.əld/
• Rhymes: -ɒnəld
• Hyphenation: Don‧ald

Proper noun

Donald (countable and uncountable, plural Donalds)

1. A male given name from Scottish Gaelic.
   • 1816, Walter Scott, Old Mortality, Samuel H. Parker, published 1836, page 232:

     "Country?" replied Cuddie; "ou, the country's weel eneugh, and it werena that dour deevil, Calver'se, ( they ca' him Dundee now) that's stirring about yet in the Highlands, they say, with a' the Donalds, and Duncans, and Dugalds, that ever wore bottomless breeks, driving about wi' him, to set things asteer again, - - -

   • 1980, Laura Furman, The Glass House, a Novella and Stories, Viking Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 76:

     My friends call me Terry. My husband always used my full name, Teresa. He said it made him feel like he was married to a foreign woman. And I never called him Don or Donny or Donny Joe. I called him Donald from the first time we met.

   • 1991, Frank Chin, Donald Duk, Coffee House Press, published 1991, →ISBN, page 1:

     Donald Duk never liked his name. He hates his name. He is not a duck. He is not a cartoon character. - - - "Only the Chinese are stupid enough to give a kid a stupid name like Donald Duk," Donald Duk says to himself.

   • 2016 September 6, Timothy Stanley, “How Phyllis Schlafly gave us Sarah Palin”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 11 February 2021:

     The death of anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly on Monday brought commiserations from the GOP ticket. Donald Trump tweeted that she was “truly great.” Mike Pence called her “the First Lady of the Conservative Movement.” Pence wasn’t exaggerating.

   • 2018 August 18, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, “White House Counsel, Don McGahn, Has Cooperated Extensively in Mueller Inquiry”, in The New York Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 19 March 2021:

     The White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, has cooperated extensively in the special counsel investigation, sharing detailed accounts about the episodes at the heart of the inquiry into whether President Trump obstructed justice, […]

2. A surname.
3. A place name:
   1. An unincorporated community in Long County, Georgia, United States.
   2. An unincorporated community in the town of Pershing, Taylor County, Wisconsin, United States.
   3. A community regarded as a ghost town west of Golden, British Columbia, Canada.
   4. A town in the Shire of Buloke, western Victoria, Australia.

Usage notes

• Popular in all English-speaking countries in the first half of the 20th century.

Derived terms

• Dolina
• Don
• Donald Creek
• Donald Duck
• Donald Trump
  • ⇒ Donald Trumpesque
  • ⇒ Donald Trumpian
  • ⇒ Donald Trumpish
  • →⇒ donaldtrumpi
• The Donald
• Donalda
• Donaldina
• Donaldson
• Donalds
• Donna
• Donnie
• Donny

Related terms

• Donaldson
• MacDonald
• MacDonnell
• McDonald
• McDonnell

Descendants

• ⇒ Translingual: donaldtrumpi

Translations

male given name

• Albanian: Donáld m
• Arabic: دُونَلْد m (dūnald)
• Armenian: Դոնալդ (Donald)
• Bengali: ডোনাল্ড (bn) m (ḍōnalḍ)
• Bulgarian: До́налд m (Dónald)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 當奴 / 当奴 (dong¹ nou⁴), 當勞 / 当劳 (dong¹ lou⁴)

  Mandarin: 唐納德 / 唐纳德 (zh) (Tángnàdé)

• French: Donald (fr) m
• Georgian: დონალდ (donald)
• German: Donald m (borrowing from English)
• Greek: Ντόναλντ (el) m (Ntónalnt), Κουίντος (el) (Kouíntos)
• Hebrew: דוֹנָלְד
• Hindi: डॉनल्ड m (ḍŏnalḍ)
• Irish: Dónal m, Dónall (ga) m
• Japanese: ドナルド (Donarudo)
• Khmer: ដូណាល់ (dounal)
• Korean: 도널드 (Doneoldeu)
• Latin: Donaldus, Quintus (la)
• Low German: Donald (borrowing from English)
• Māori: Tānara
• Old English: Dufenal m
• Polish: Donald (pl) m
• Russian: До́нальд (ru) m (Dónalʹd)
• Scottish Gaelic: Dòmhnall m
• Spanish: Donaldo m
• Swedish: Donald (sv) c
• Thai: ดอนัลด์
• Vietnamese: Đô-nan
• Welsh: Dyfnwal m
• Yiddish: דאָנאַלד (donald)

Noun

Donald (plural Donalds)

1. (Cockney rhyming slang) Abbreviation of Donald Trump (“a dump, an act of defecation”).
   • 2018, Mick Herron, London Rules, Baskerville 2022, p. 119:

     ‘But I'm overdue for a Donald. You lot squabble amongst yourselves.’ He stole Catherine's newspaper on the way out.

Anagrams

• Doland

Albanian

Proper noun

Donald m

1. a male given name

Declension

Declension of Donald

	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	Donald	Donaldi
accusative		Donaldin
dative/ablative	Donaldi	Donaldit

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔnəlt/, /ˈdoːnalt/
• The second form still prevails in Donald Duck, but otherwise the more Anglicized pronunciation is now predominant.

Proper noun

Donald m (proper noun, strong, genitive Donalds or (with an article) Donald)

1. a male given name of chiefly foreign usage

Swedish

Etymology

From English Donald. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1880.

Proper noun

Donald c (genitive Donalds)

1. a male given name
   • 1975, Christer Kihlman, Dyre prins, Wahlström & Widstrand, →ISBN, page 113:

     Som liten var jag ganska stolt över mitt namn. Donald! Det klingade minsann mäktigare det än både Kalle och Ville och Lasse. Senare, när jag upphöjt mig själv i borgarståndet och för säkerhets skull beseglat min borgerlighet genom äktenskapet med Gunnel Lindermann hade jag uppriktigt sagt gärna hetat nånting annat, nånting mera traditionellt ståndsmässigt, eller från den synpunkten konventionellare, som Johan eller Henrik eller Carl-Gustaf. Till och med Max och Moritz och Niklas hade gått an. Bara inte Donald. Det avslöjade obönhörligt härkomsten, fick jag snart nog klart för mig. Just i de kretsarna. I likhet med Clark och Gladys och Salome. Det lät vulgärt låtsasfint, uppkomlingsaktigt, eller på det hela taget pinsamt adekvat när allt kommer omkring.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

References

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn. Almqvist&Wiksell 1996