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I love both my father is Donald and my husband is Ronald

I prefer Donald to Ronald: nice and Scottish and porridgey. I can overlook the duck and the Trump, but I'm not sold on Don so it'd be safer as a mn.

love it

I think it's quite handsome. (I wasn't exposed much to Disney as a kid, so ducks do not come to mind.) It seems to come with a built-in Scottish accent when I hear it in my head, and reminds me of islands in Scotland with fantastically blue seas and lonely white windy beaches. One of my dad's oldest friends, who we always call uncle, is a Donald and he's lovely, so all good associations for me.

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Ronald isn't bad, but I don't like it as much as Donald. Although Ron's maybe better than Don, as less mafiosy.

Aww, I like Donald! I also like Ronald, but at the moment I prefer Donald.

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I can't get beyond the Duck association. Gordon, Richard and Julius are way nicer and don't give the same vibe IMO.

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Ronald and Donald are pretty much equivalent in terms of dowdiness and awkwardness.

I can't stand Ronald, so Donald wins there. But it's more by default than anything else. I'm pleased to see almost any name revived and Donald fits into that category. I would be much happier to see Donal, with a long "o" sound, catch on.

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But yes, among the likes of Gordon and Richard, Donald fits right in. He benefits from their reflected glory.

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I've never seen the series, but I think "Mad Men" on HBO has a lead character named Don. Perhaps the name might get a boost from that association. Personally, any attraction Donald has for me comes from linking it in my mind with Scottish history. But for most people, the HBO associaiton would be the more attractive, if any.

This message was edited 7/12/2010, 10:31 AM

Donald is my uncle's name but he only goes by Don. He said he used to not like it because of Donald Duck but now he's alright with it. My grandfather is named Donald as well, Donald Charles. I'm not really a fan of it and I much prefer Ronald.

I went to university with a student my age named Donald "Donnie" who was positively foxy. It definitely gave the name a serious bump for me. It's one thing if your parents or whatnot have nice, pleasant friends named Don but another entirely when you see one that is seriously attractive and wasn't born in the 1950's. :-D

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I don't love Donald (or Julius, but am totally on board with Gordon and Richard :-D) but I think it has more class than I've been used to allowing it. At worst it's a bit outdated to me, in the same way as Ronald. Most Rons and Dons I've met have been the age of my parents, so I associate it with being dated to the same era as Sharon, Carol, etc. That's not bad necessarily but it's still a definite niche to me.

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I actually prefer Ron and Don to Ronald and Donald. The -ald kind of drags them down to me. I could get more excited about Donal, I think; it takes away the part that I'm iffy about plus gives it a nice long O sound. Between the two full names, though, I'm dead neutral.

That's a little rambley. :-) But overall I would probably rate it pleasant but not something I see as becoming my personal favorite.

I really dislike both :( For the most part they get Don and Ron or Ronnie and Donnie and I don't like those either.

I don't know what to do about Donald. I do agree that it's rich and thick, and has something pleasant about it. But at the same time I can't get doofy Donald Duck out of my head. I go back and forth on whether I prefer it over Ronald. Ronald can be rather dashing, too, but it has the Ronald McDonald association. So what's goofier, Donald Duck or Ronald McDonald? I dunno.