Avonda
A feminine name possibly derived from the French word "avancer", suggesting advancement or progress.
Name Census estimates that about 79 living Americans carry the first name Avonda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Avonda today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Avonda births was 1957 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Avonda. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Avonda. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
79
~ 1 in 4,338,663 Americans
Peak year
1957
8 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1987 SSA rank
#11,474
Tracked since 1957
Census
Avonda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 143 people with the first name Avonda, which placed it at #46,519 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#46,519
National first-name rank
People counted
143
143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Avonda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avonda is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are White (36.4%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Avonda described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Avonda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.6% · 81
- White36.4% · 52
- Two or more races3.5% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
Popularity
Avonda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Avonda from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 49 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Avonda by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Avonda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Avonda
The name Avonda originated in the early medieval period, with roots tracing back to the Germanic tribes of central Europe. It is believed to have been derived from the Old High German words "avo" meaning "ancestor" and "unda" meaning "wave" or "water." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to an ancestral connection with a body of water, such as a river or lake.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Avonda can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of historical documents from the former Kingdom of Saxony, dated to the 9th century. Here, the name appears as "Avonda" in reference to a landowner in the region.
In the 11th century, an Avonda is mentioned in the Annales Cambriae, a chronicle of medieval Welsh history. This Avonda is described as a noblewoman who played a role in the political affairs of the time, though few other details are provided.
During the 12th century, an Avonda is recorded as a nun in the Benedictine monastery of St. Walburga in Eichstätt, Bavaria. This Avonda is notable for her contributions to the monastery's illuminated manuscripts, which are still preserved today.
In the 14th century, an Italian scholar named Avonda Boccaccio (1320-1375) gained recognition for his writings on classical literature and philosophy. He was a contemporary of the renowned author Giovanni Boccaccio and is believed to have influenced his work.
Another notable figure was Avonda von Mecklenburg (1492-1555), a German noblewoman and patron of the arts. She commissioned several works of art and architecture, including the construction of a chapel on her family's estate, which still stands today.
Throughout history, the name Avonda has been relatively rare, but it has appeared in various parts of Europe, including Germany, Italy, and the British Isles. While its usage has waxed and waned over the centuries, it has maintained its connection to its Germanic roots and its association with water and ancestry.
People
Avonda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Avonda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Avonda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Avonda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Avonda going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,338,663 US residents.
Is Avonda a common name?
We classify Avonda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 94 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Avonda most popular?
The single biggest year for Avonda was 1957, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Avonda is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Avonda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 143 people with the name Avonda, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,519 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Avonda in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Avonda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avonda appears almost entirely female. Of the 142 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Avonda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avonda is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are White (36.4%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Avonda most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Avonda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.6% (81 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Avonda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Avonda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Avonda in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Avonda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Avonda in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Avonda can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Avonda?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Avonda at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.