Lonetta
A feminine name with multiple potential origins including Greek meaning "lion-like".
Name Census estimates that about 204 living Americans carry the first name Lonetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lonetta today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lonetta births was 1970 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lonetta. 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
204
~ 1 in 1,680,168 Americans
Peak year
1970
14 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1988 SSA rank
#11,173
Tracked since 1922
Census
Lonetta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 243 people with the first name Lonetta, which placed it at #33,857 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
#33,857
National first-name rank
People counted
243
243 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lonetta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lonetta is White at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Black (42.4%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Lonetta 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 Lonetta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.7% · 111
- Black or African American42.4% · 103
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 12
- Two or more races4.5% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Lonetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lonetta from the 1920s through to the 1980s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 82 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lonetta 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 Lonetta 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 Lonetta
Lonetta is a feminine given name that has its roots in the Latin language. It is believed to have originated from the Latin word "longe," which means "far away" or "distant." The name may have been initially used to describe someone who came from a faraway place or had traveled great distances.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lonetta was relatively uncommon, but it did appear in some historical records and documents from various parts of Europe. One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name can be found in a 12th-century register from a monastery in northern Italy, where a nun was listed as "Lonetta di Firenze."
In the 14th century, there are records of a woman named Lonetta de Montfort, who was a noblewoman from the county of Montfort in France. She was known for her charitable works and was revered in her local community.
The name Lonetta gained some popularity during the Renaissance period, particularly in Italy. One notable figure was Lonetta Veneziano, a Venetian painter who lived from approximately 1490 to 1560. She was one of the few female artists of her time to gain recognition for her work, which included religious paintings and portraits.
In the 17th century, a woman named Lonetta Buckhurst was born in England. She was the daughter of a wealthy landowner and is mentioned in several historical records from the time, although little is known about her life beyond her name and family background.
Another notable bearer of the name was Lonetta Amelia Vickers, an English author and poet who lived from 1790 to 1878. She wrote several collections of poetry and was known for her lyrical and romantic verses.
The name Lonetta has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, but it has persisted in various cultures and regions. While it may not be as widely recognized as some more common names, it carries a sense of distance and intrigue, reflecting its Latin origins.
People
Lonetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lonetta 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
Lonetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lonetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lonetta 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 1,680,168 US residents.
Is Lonetta a common name?
We classify Lonetta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 304 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lonetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Lonetta was 1970, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lonetta 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 Lonetta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 243 people with the name Lonetta, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,857 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 Lonetta 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 Lonetta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lonetta appears almost entirely female. Of the 240 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Lonetta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lonetta is White at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Black (42.4%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Lonetta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lonetta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.7% (111 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 Lonetta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lonetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lonetta 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 Lonetta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lonetta 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 Lonetta 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 Lonetta?
Want to know how many Americans are named Lonetta? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.