Bonnita
A feminine name derived from the French word "bonne", meaning "pretty" or "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 435 living Americans carry the first name Bonnita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bonnita today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bonnita births was 1949 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bonnita. 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 Bonnita is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bonnitas were born before 1968.
People living today
435
~ 1 in 787,941 Americans
Peak year
1949
31 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1978 SSA rank
#7,014
Tracked since 1925
Census
Bonnita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 526 people with the first name Bonnita, which placed it at #19,885 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
#19,885
National first-name rank
People counted
526
526 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bonnita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bonnita is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.3%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Bonnita 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 Bonnita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.0% · 405
- Black or African American14.3% · 75
- Two or more races4.4% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Bonnita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bonnita from the 1920s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 209 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Bonnita remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bonnita 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 Bonnita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bonnitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Bonnita, while Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bonnita
The name Bonnita is derived from the Spanish language and has its origins in the Iberian Peninsula. It is a feminine name that emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 13th century. Bonnita is believed to be a variation of the name Bonita, which means "beautiful" or "pretty" in Spanish.
Bonnita was likely used as a descriptive name, given to girls who were considered beautiful or attractive at birth. The name's roots can be traced back to the Latin word "bonus," meaning "good" or "admirable." Over time, the name evolved into the Spanish form "bonita" and eventually gave rise to the variant "Bonnita."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bonnita can be found in the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors who explored and colonized parts of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries. Bonnita was a popular name among Spanish settlers and was often given to their daughters born in the New World.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Bonnita. One of the earliest recorded was Bonnita Ferrer (1480-1542), a Spanish noblewoman and courtier during the reign of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. She was known for her beauty and her involvement in the cultural and literary circles of the time.
Another prominent figure was Bonnita Velázquez (1598-1668), a Spanish painter and one of the few female artists of the Baroque era. She is renowned for her religious paintings and her contributions to the development of the Spanish Golden Age of art.
In the 19th century, Bonnita Granville (1865-1932) was a British actress and singer who gained fame on the London stage. She was particularly known for her performances in Shakespearean plays and her collaborations with renowned playwrights of the time.
In the realm of literature, Bonnita Hurd (1877-1943) was an American writer and poet. She was part of the Harlem Renaissance movement and is remembered for her poetic works that explored themes of African American identity and experience.
More recently, Bonnita Roy (1941-2021) was a Canadian actress and performer. She was celebrated for her roles in various television shows and movies, as well as her contributions to the theater scene in Canada.
While the name Bonnita has Spanish origins, it has been adopted and used in various cultural contexts throughout history, reflecting its enduring appeal and the diversity of individuals who have borne this name.
People
Bonnita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bonnita 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
Bonnita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bonnita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 435 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bonnita 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 787,941 US residents.
Is Bonnita a common name?
We classify Bonnita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 683 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bonnita most popular?
The single biggest year for Bonnita was 1949, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bonnita 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 Bonnita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 526 people with the name Bonnita, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,885 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 Bonnita 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 Bonnita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bonnita appears almost entirely female. Of the 527 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 Bonnita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bonnita is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.3%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Bonnita most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bonnita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (405 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 Bonnita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bonnita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bonnita 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 Bonnita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bonnita 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 Bonnita 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 share the name Bonnita?
You can see how many Americans are named Bonnita on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.