Bona
A feminine Latin name meaning "good" or "virtuous".
Name Census estimates that about 69 living Americans carry the first name Bona. It is a predominantly female name (94.8% of registrations). The average person named Bona today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bona births was 1945 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bona. 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 Bona. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
69
~ 1 in 4,967,454 Americans
Peak year
1945
16 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2006 SSA rank
#12,261
Tracked since 1915
Census
Bona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 513 people with the first name Bona, which placed it at #20,216 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
#20,216
National first-name rank
People counted
513
513 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
44.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bona is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Black (17.7%). 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 Bona 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 Bona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander44.4% · 228
- White31.2% · 160
- Black or African American17.7% · 91
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 19
- Two or more races2.9% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Bona
Bona leans heavily female at 94.8% of total registrations, but 10 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bona as a male name
- Ranked #12,261 in 2006
- 5 male births in 2006
- Peak: 1986 (5 births)
Bona as a female name
- Ranked #15,689 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1945 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bona on both sides of the split. Of the 508 people counted with this name, 150 were male (29.5%) and 358 were female (70.5%).
Popularity
Bona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bona from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 49 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bona 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 Bona 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 Bona
The name Bona has its origins in Latin, where it was a feminine given name derived from the Latin word "bonus," meaning "good" or "virtuous." It emerged during the classical period of ancient Rome and was initially associated with the upper classes and aristocracy.
In the early centuries of the Roman Empire, Bona was a relatively uncommon name, but it gained prominence during the later imperial era. One of the earliest recorded figures with this name was Bona Dea, a Roman goddess of fertility and chastity, whose mysterious cult was celebrated exclusively by women in ancient Rome.
As Christianity spread through the Roman world, the name Bona took on a new meaning, symbolizing the virtues of goodness, purity, and moral integrity. Several early Christian saints bore this name, including Saint Bona of Pisa (c. 1156 – c. 1207), an Italian mystic and member of the Third Order of St. Francis, and Saint Bona of Valois (c. 1181 – 1212), a French princess who renounced her royal status to become a nun.
During the Middle Ages, Bona remained a popular name across various European regions, particularly in Italy and France. One notable figure from this period was Bona of Savoy (1449 – 1503), the Duchess of Milan and a prominent patron of the arts, who played a significant role in the Renaissance culture of northern Italy.
In the Renaissance and early modern era, the name Bona continued to be used by notable individuals, such as Bona Sforza (1494 – 1557), a Polish queen consort and a member of the powerful Sforza family of Milan. Another prominent figure was Bona Margherita Vittoria Grimaldi (1746 – 1791), a renowned Italian composer and harpsichordist who contributed to the musical traditions of the Baroque period.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the name Bona gained popularity in various parts of Europe, especially in Italy and France. One notable figure from this time was Bona Peiser (1865 – 1952), a Polish-born Jewish activist who campaigned for women's rights and played a crucial role in the establishment of the Jewish Women's Union in Germany.
Other historical figures who bore the name Bona include Bona Castellani (1876 – 1937), an Italian sculptor and artist known for her works depicting religious and allegorical themes, and Bona Tonya (1908 – 1952), a Hungarian actress and singer who achieved fame in the early days of German cinema.
People
Bona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bona as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 69 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bona 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 4,967,454 US residents.
Is Bona a common name?
We classify Bona as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 191 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bona most popular?
The single biggest year for Bona was 1945, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bona is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 513 people with the name Bona, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,216 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 Bona 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 Bona?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bona on both sides of the split. Of the 508 people counted with this name, 150 were male (29.5%) and 358 were female (70.5%). 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 Bona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bona is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Black (17.7%). 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 Bona most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Bona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.4% (228 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 Bona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bona a female name?
Yes, 94.8% of people registered as Bona 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 Bona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bona 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 Bona 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 people have Bona as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.