Bonita
A feminine Spanish name meaning "beautiful" or "pretty".
Name Census estimates that about 22,329 living Americans carry the first name Bonita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bonita today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bonita births was 1950 (1,528 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bonita. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bonita with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Bonita is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bonitas were born before 1968.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Bonita have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,350 Americans
Peak year
1950
1,528 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1961 SSA rank
#3,686
Tracked since 1888
Census
Bonita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 27,864 people with the first name Bonita, which placed it at #1,310 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
#1,310
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
27,864 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bonita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bonita is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.4%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Bonita 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 Bonita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.3% · 20,690
- Black or African American18.4% · 5,128
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 843
- Two or more races2.4% · 673
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 272
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 258
Gender
Gender distribution for Bonita
Out of the 37,842 babies given the name Bonita since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Bonita as a male name
- Ranked #3,686 in 1961
- 6 male births in 1961
- Peak: 1955 (6 births)
Bonita as a female name
- Ranked #7,633 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1950 (1,528 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bonita appears almost entirely female. Of the 27,867 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Bonita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bonita from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 12,082 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bonita 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 Bonita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bonitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois recorded the most babies named Bonita, while Rhode Island, New Mexico, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 720 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bonita
Bonita is a Spanish feminine given name derived from the word "bonito," meaning "beautiful" or "pretty." The name has its roots in Latin, originating from the word "bonus," which means "good."
The name Bonita is believed to have been in use since the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions. It was likely used as a descriptive term to describe a beautiful or attractive woman before becoming a formal given name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bonita can be found in the Spanish literary work "La Celestina" by Fernando de Rojas, written in 1499. In this work, one of the characters is named Bonita, suggesting that the name was in use during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Bonita. One such person was Bonita Granville (1923-1988), an American actress known for her roles in films like "These Three" and "Now, Voyager." She had a successful career in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s.
Another famous Bonita was Bonita Mercer (1896-1980), an American vaudeville performer and actress who appeared in several Broadway productions and films in the early 20th century.
In the literary world, Bonita Granville Wrather (1897-1998) was an American author and playwright who wrote several novels and plays, including "The Silken East" and "The Song of the Desert."
Bonita Norris (1923-1944) was a British fighter pilot and flying instructor during World War II. She became the youngest woman to join the Air Transport Auxiliary and tragically lost her life in a plane crash at the age of 21.
Bonita Spence (1914-2012) was a Canadian artist and painter known for her vibrant and expressive works depicting scenes from her native British Columbia.
While the name Bonita has Spanish origins, it has been adopted and used in various cultures around the world, particularly in areas with Spanish influence or connections.
People
Bonita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bonita 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
Bonita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bonita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,329 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bonita 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 15,350 US residents.
Is Bonita a common name?
We classify Bonita as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37,842 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bonita most popular?
The single biggest year for Bonita was 1950, when 1,528 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bonita is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bonita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 27,864 people with the name Bonita, or 9.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,310 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 Bonita 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 Bonita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bonita appears almost entirely female. Of the 27,867 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Bonita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bonita is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.4%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Bonita most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bonita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.3% (20,690 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 Bonita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bonita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bonita 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 Bonita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bonita 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 Bonita 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 are named Bonita?
Want to know how many people have the name Bonita? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.