Explore the Family Name O’donovan

The meaning of O’donovan

Irish (Cork): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Donndubháin ‘descendant of Donndubhán’ (see Donovan). Some characteristic forenames: Irish Aidan, Aileen, Brendan, Colm, Cormac, Declan, Donal, Finbarr, Grainne, Kieran.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name O’donovan in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname O’Donovan has seen a rise in popularity between 2000 and 2010. The rank of the surname improved from 20,800 to 19,945, indicating a popularity increase of 4.11%. In terms of raw count, there were approximately 1,180 individuals with the O'Donovan surname in 2000, which increased to 1,345 by 2010, marking an increase of 13.98%. Proportionally, for every 100,000 people, the number of individuals named O'Donovan rose from 0.44 to 0.46 during this period, reflecting a 4.55% increase.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#20,800	#19,945	4.11%
Count	1,180	1,345	13.98%
Proportion per 100k	0.44	0.46	4.55%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name O’donovan

When it comes to ethnic identity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows some shifts among people with the O'Donovan surname between 2000 and 2010. While those identifying as White remained the majority, increasing slightly from 92.80% to 93.75%, the percentage of Asian/Pacific Islanders saw a significant jump from 0.51% to 0.82%, marking a 60.78% increase. However, the proportion of individuals identifying as Hispanic decreased by 28%, from 4.75% to 3.42%. There was a slight decrease in those claiming two or more races, dropping from 1.69% to 1.64%. It should be noted that the categories Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native had no representation in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92.8%	93.75%	1.02%
Hispanic	4.75%	3.42%	-28%
Two or More Races	1.69%	1.64%	-2.96%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.51%	0.82%	60.78%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%