Bonne
A feminine French name meaning "good" or "kind".
Name Census estimates that about 207 living Americans carry the first name Bonne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bonne today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bonne births was 1951 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bonne. 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
- • The typical person named Bonne is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bonnes were born before 1966.
People living today
207
~ 1 in 1,655,818 Americans
Peak year
1951
21 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1987 SSA rank
#9,974
Tracked since 1918
Census
Bonne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 471 people with the first name Bonne, which placed it at #21,522 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
#21,522
National first-name rank
People counted
471
471 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bonne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bonne is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Bonne 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 Bonne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 410
- Black or African American4.9% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 6
- Two or more races1.3% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 5
Popularity
Bonne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bonne from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 139 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
Bonne 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 Bonne 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 Bonne
The name Bonne is a French feminine given name derived from the Old French word "bon," meaning "good" or "virtuous." It originated in the Middle Ages and was initially used as an epithet or descriptive name to signify a person's positive qualities.
The earliest recorded use of Bonne as a given name can be traced back to the 12th century in France. One of the earliest known bearers of this name was Bonne of Savoy (1275-1300), a French noblewoman who married Philip III of France and served as Queen of France from 1285 until her death.
In the 13th century, Bonne de Luxembourg (1308-1349) was a prominent figure in European history. She was the daughter of King John of Bohemia and became the first wife of King John II of France. Her name was often spelled as "Bonne" or "Bona" in various historical records.
Another notable bearer of the name was Bonne of Berry (1362-1435), a French princess and Duchess of Berry. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her significant influence in the French court during the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
In the 16th century, Bonne Leszdynska (1520-1569) was a Polish noblewoman who married King Sigismund I of Poland and became the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania. Her name is sometimes spelled as "Bona" in historical records.
During the 17th century, Bonne de Pons d'Haucourt (1617-1670) was a French aristocrat and author who wrote several works on moral and religious topics. Her name was often spelled as "Bonne" or "Bona" in her published works.
Throughout history, the name Bonne has been associated with virtuous and admirable qualities, reflecting its origins as a descriptive name. While it has not been as widely used as some other French names, it has maintained a presence in various regions and time periods, particularly among the nobility and upper classes.
People
Bonne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bonne 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
Bonne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bonne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 207 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bonne 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 1,655,818 US residents.
Is Bonne a common name?
We classify Bonne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 368 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bonne most popular?
The single biggest year for Bonne was 1951, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bonne is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bonne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 471 people with the name Bonne, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,522 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 Bonne 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 Bonne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bonne leans strongly female. 455 people counted with this name were female (95.6%), compared with 21 male bearers (4.4%). 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 Bonne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bonne is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Bonne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bonne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (410 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 Bonne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bonne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bonne 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 Bonne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bonne 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 Bonne 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 Bonne?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.