Edona
A feminine name of Albanian origin meaning "joyful" or "delightful".
Name Census estimates that about 79 living Americans carry the first name Edona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Edona today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Edona births was 2003 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Edona. 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 Edona with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Edona. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
79
~ 1 in 4,338,663 Americans
Peak year
2003
12 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2014 SSA rank
#13,470
Tracked since 1997
Census
Edona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 221 people with the first name Edona, which placed it at #36,071 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
#36,071
National first-name rank
People counted
221
221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Edona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edona is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Edona 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 Edona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 193
- Black or African American5.9% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 9
- Two or more races1.8% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 2
Popularity
Edona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Edona from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 66 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Edona 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 Edona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Edonas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Edona
Edona is a name of Albanian origin, derived from the ancient Illyrian word "edon," which means "lord" or "ruler." It is believed to have emerged during the classical era, around the 5th century BCE, when the Illyrian tribes inhabited the western Balkans region, including parts of modern-day Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.
The first recorded mention of the name Edona can be found in ancient Greek texts, where it was used to refer to the Edoni, an Illyrian tribe that lived in the region of Paeonia, which is now part of North Macedonia. The name was also mentioned in Roman historical accounts, as the Romans had frequent interactions with the Illyrian tribes during their conquest of the Balkans.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Edona was an Illyrian princess who lived in the 3rd century BCE. She was the daughter of King Monunius II of the Dardanian tribe and was renowned for her beauty and intelligence. Unfortunately, little is known about her life beyond her name and royal lineage.
In the 15th century, during the Ottoman Empire's rule over the Balkans, a notable figure named Edona Gjika emerged as a prominent military commander and strategist. She played a crucial role in defending her family's lands against Ottoman incursions, earning her a place in Albanian folklore as a symbol of courage and resistance.
Another historical figure with the name Edona was Edona Çami, an Albanian noblewoman who lived in the 17th century. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the preservation of Albanian culture and traditions during a time of Ottoman domination.
In the 19th century, Edona Kastrioti was a celebrated Albanian poet and writer who contributed significantly to the Albanian National Awakening movement. Her works, which often explored themes of national identity and liberation, played a vital role in raising awareness of Albanian culture and language.
Lastly, Edona Llalloshi was a renowned Albanian painter and sculptor who lived in the 20th century. Her art, which often depicted scenes from Albanian daily life and cultural traditions, helped to preserve and promote the country's rich artistic heritage on an international stage.
People
Edona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Edona as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Edona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Edona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Edona 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 Edona a common name?
We classify Edona 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, 80 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Edona most popular?
The single biggest year for Edona was 2003, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Edona is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Edona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 221 people with the name Edona, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,071 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 Edona 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 Edona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Edona appears almost entirely female. Of the 212 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 Edona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edona is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Edona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Edona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (193 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 Edona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Edona a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Edona 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 Edona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Edona 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 Edona 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 Edona?
Want to know how many Americans are named Edona? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.