Lona
A feminine name derived from the Arabic word "lawna" meaning "color."
Name Census estimates that about 3,696 living Americans carry the first name Lona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lona today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lona births was 1918 (198 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lona. 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 Lona with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.7K
~ 1 in 92,737 Americans
Peak year
1918
198 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1928 SSA rank
#3,963
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,565 people with the first name Lona, which placed it at #4,189 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
#4,189
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,565 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lona is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.2%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Lona 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 Lona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.5% · 3,721
- Black or African American9.2% · 420
- Two or more races3.2% · 145
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 125
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 107
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 47
Gender
Gender distribution for Lona
Out of the 10,912 babies given the name Lona since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Lona as a male name
- Ranked #3,963 in 1928
- 6 male births in 1928
- Peak: 1917 (6 births)
Lona as a female name
- Ranked #8,206 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (198 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lona appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,554 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lona from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,497 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lona 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 Lona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lonas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Lona, while Nebraska, North Dakota, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 137 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lona
The name Lona has its origins tracing back to the ancient Celtic languages spoken in regions of modern-day Ireland and Scotland. It is derived from the Old Irish Gaelic word "lon", meaning "blackbird" or "elk". The spelling variation "Lona" emerged in the 8th century AD, becoming a popular name among the Gaelic-speaking communities of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lona can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient chronicle detailing events in medieval Ireland. The entry for the year 730 AD mentions a chieftain named Lona mac Cathail, who ruled over a territory in present-day County Donegal.
In the 9th century, St. Lona of Lismore, a revered Irish monk and scholar, established a renowned monastery on the island of Lismore in Scotland. His life and works are chronicled in the Vita Sancti Lonae, an early medieval hagiography.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lona gained popularity among noble families in Scotland and Ireland. Notable historical figures include Lona MacDonald (c. 1400-1475), a Scottish noblewoman and heiress to the Lordship of the Isles, and Lona O'Neill (c. 1550-1620), a chieftain of the powerful O'Neill clan in Ulster.
In the 17th century, Lona Munro (1601-1668) was a Scottish religious writer and poet, known for her work "The Last Instructions to a Souldier". Her contemporaries included Lona MacLeod (1610-1672), a renowned herbalist and healer from the Isle of Skye.
Moving into the 19th century, Lona Porter (1822-1898) was an American abolitionist and women's rights activist, who worked closely with prominent figures like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
These examples illustrate the enduring legacy of the name Lona, which has been borne by notable individuals across various fields throughout history, from nobility and religious figures to writers and social reformers.
People
Lona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lona as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,696 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lona 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 92,737 US residents.
Is Lona a common name?
We classify Lona as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,912 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lona most popular?
The single biggest year for Lona was 1918, when 198 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lona is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,565 people with the name Lona, or 1.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,189 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 Lona 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 Lona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lona appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,554 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Lona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lona is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.2%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Lona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.5% (3,721 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 Lona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lona a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Lona 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 Lona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lona 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 Lona 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 Americans are named Lona?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.