Loney
An English masculine name potentially derived from the word "lonely".
Name Census estimates that about 139 living Americans carry the first name Loney. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Loney today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loney births was 1915 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loney. 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 Loney is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Loneys were born before 1963.
People living today
139
~ 1 in 2,465,859 Americans
Peak year
1915
33 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1987 SSA rank
#4,052
Tracked since 1883
Census
Loney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 262 people with the first name Loney, which placed it at #32,242 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
#32,242
National first-name rank
People counted
262
262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loney is White at 59.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.0%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Loney 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 Loney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.5% · 156
- Black or African American26.0% · 68
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 23
- Two or more races2.7% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Loney
Loney is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 785 total registrations, 505 (64.3%) were male and 280 (35.7%) were female.
Loney as a male name
- Ranked #7,676 in 1987
- 5 male births in 1987
- Peak: 1915 (20 births)
Loney as a female name
- Ranked #4,052 in 1939
- 6 female births in 1939
- Peak: 1916 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loney leans strongly male. 217 people counted with this name were male (80.7%), compared with 52 female bearers (19.3%).
Popularity
Loney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loney from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 216 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
Loney 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 Loney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Loneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Loney, while Georgia, Texas, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loney
The name Loney is believed to have originated from the Old English word "lunon," which means "to lean or incline." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who was physically leaning or inclining in some way. Alternatively, it could have been used as a descriptive term for someone with a particular posture or behavior.
The earliest recorded use of the name Loney dates back to the 12th century in England. It was primarily used as a surname or a descriptive nickname at the time. Over the centuries, it gradually transitioned into being used as a given name as well.
One of the earliest known references to the name Loney can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive land survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions a landowner named "Lunon" in the county of Gloucestershire.
In medieval times, the name Loney appeared in various literary works, including the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. One of the characters in the Tales is described as having a "loney" or "leaning" posture, which further reinforces the potential origin of the name.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Loney. One of the earliest was Sir Loney de Montfort (c. 1230-1297), an English nobleman and military commander who fought in the Barons' War against King Henry III.
Another prominent figure was Loney Gardiner (1598-1675), an English Puritan minister and author who played a significant role in the English Civil War and the Commonwealth period. He was known for his fiery sermons and his unwavering religious convictions.
In the 19th century, Loney Tindall (1839-1914) was a renowned British explorer and adventurer. He embarked on numerous expeditions to Africa and Asia, and his accounts of his travels were widely published and celebrated.
More recently, Loney Baxter (1914-2002) was an American artist and sculptor known for his abstract works and his innovative use of materials like steel and concrete. His sculptures can be found in various public spaces and museums across the United States.
Finally, Loney Whitaker (1927-2018) was a British actor and theater director who had a prolific career spanning over six decades. He was particularly acclaimed for his interpretations of Shakespearean roles and his commitment to preserving the art of classical theater.
While the name Loney may have originated as a descriptive term, it has evolved into a distinctive and enduring given name, carried by individuals from diverse backgrounds and achievements throughout history.
People
Loney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loney 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
Loney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loney 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 2,465,859 US residents.
Is Loney a common name?
We classify Loney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 785 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loney most popular?
The single biggest year for Loney was 1915, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loney is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 262 people with the name Loney, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,242 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 Loney 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 Loney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loney leans strongly male. 217 people counted with this name were male (80.7%), compared with 52 female bearers (19.3%). 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 Loney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loney is White at 59.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.0%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Loney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.5% (156 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 Loney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loney a male name?
Yes, 64.3% of people registered as Loney in the SSA data are male. 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 Loney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loney 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 Loney 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 common is the name Loney?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Loney at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.