6 Delicious Fun Facts About Donuts

1. Over 10 billion doughnuts are made in the U.S. each year.

The American doughnut industry is huge, with numerous fast food chains dedicated to their production. Canada, meanwhile, produces fewer doughnuts (approximately 1 billion per year), but with its lower population, actually has the most doughnut shops per capita of any country in the world.

2. There are 10 people living in America with the last name “Doughnut” or “Donut.”

At least that was the total in 2011. It’s unclear whether “Doughnut” was their given last name, or whether they changed it out of passion for the pastry. Meanwhile, 13 people have the first name “Donut,” making it the 245,396th most popular name in the United States.

3. Washington Irving was the first writer to describe doughnuts in print.

Washington Irving, who is best known as the author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, described the pastry as “balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks.” He is widely believed to be the first writer to wax poetic about these delicious concoctions.

4. Boston has the most doughnut shops per person.

Bostonians really love their doughnuts: The city has one doughnut shop for every 2480 people according to AdWeek.

5. The French used to call their doughnuts “nun’s farts.”

The airy fried dough fritters—slightly different from the American circular doughnut—are called pets de nonne in French, which translates to “nun’s farts.”

6. There’s some truth to the “cops love doughnuts” trope.

Back in the 1950s, police officers on the graveyard shift would stop by doughnut shops—which were among the few establishments open late—to do paperwork and have a snack. Eventually a reciprocal relationship developed: Doughnut shop owners welcomed the protection of police officers, and police officers liked having a place to chow down late at night, so the association stuck around.