Jona
A feminine name derived from the Hebrew name Yonah meaning "dove".
Name Census estimates that about 2,006 living Americans carry the first name Jona. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Jona today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jona births was 1964 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jona. 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.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,865 Americans
Peak year
1964
57 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,120
Tracked since 1922
Gender
Gender distribution for Jona
Jona is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,258 total registrations, 513 (22.7%) were male and 1,745 (77.3%) were female.
Jona as a male name
- Ranked #4,120 in 2024
- 26 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (26 births)
Jona as a female name
- Ranked #10,613 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (57 births)
Popularity
Jona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jona from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 428 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Jona remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jona 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 Jona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jonas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jona, while Washington, Ohio, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jona
The name Jona has its origins in the Hebrew language, deriving from the biblical name Yonah, meaning "dove." This name finds its roots in ancient Semitic cultures and can be traced back to around the 8th century BCE.
The name Jona holds significance in religious texts, appearing prominently in the Book of Jonah in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. In this narrative, Jonah is a prophet who is swallowed by a giant fish or whale after refusing to follow God's command. His story serves as a lesson in obedience and divine mercy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jona can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of the father of the apostle Peter. This reference dates back to the 1st century CE.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jona. One example is Jona of Bobbio (c. 600 - 659), an Irish monk and scholar who founded the Monastery of Bobbio in northern Italy. Another prominent figure was Jona Jaschwanti (1054 - 1121), a medieval Jewish scholar and philosopher from Spain.
In the realm of literature, Jona is the name of a character in the 16th-century play "The Alchemist" by Ben Jonson. Additionally, Jona Hill (1735 - 1810) was an American Revolutionary War soldier and early settler in Vermont.
The name Jona has also been carried by several religious figures, such as Jona of Nineveh (c. 700 - 770), an East Syrian monk and theologian, and Jona of Antioch (c. 750 - 835), a Syriac Orthodox bishop and writer.
While the name Jona has its roots in ancient Hebrew and Semitic cultures, it has been adopted and used across various regions and time periods, reflecting its enduring presence in history and literature.
People
Jona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jona as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,006 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jona 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 170,865 US residents.
Is Jona a common name?
We classify Jona as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,258 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jona most popular?
The single biggest year for Jona was 1964, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jona is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jona a female name?
Yes, 77.3% of people registered as Jona 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.
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.