Donald
DAH-nəld
A Scottish Gaelic name traditionally understood as meaning “proud chief.”
Meaning
Donald is the English form of the Gaelic Domhnall/Domnall. In the 19th-century name books you provided, it is glossed as “proud chief,” reflecting the traditional Gaelic sense used for the name. The excerpts also treat it as the standard English form of the Gaelic original.
Origin
Scottish GaelicGaelicmasculine
Fun fact
The medieval Irish and Scottish forms of this name were common among kings and saints, which helped keep it prominent in Gaelic history.
Confidence: sourced. Sources: History of Christian Names, Praenomina; or, the etymology of the principal Christian names of Great Britain and Ireland.