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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 At worst it's a bit outdated to me, in the same way as Ronald.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.