Loni
A Hebrew feminine name meaning "My abode is with her".
Name Census estimates that about 3,486 living Americans carry the first name Loni. It is a predominantly female name (97.2% of registrations). The average person named Loni today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loni births was 1980 (332 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loni. 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 Loni with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Loni is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 108 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 98,323 Americans
Peak year
1980
332 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1984 SSA rank
#6,045
Tracked since 1943
Census
Loni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,826 people with the first name Loni, which placed it at #4,751 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
#4,751
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,826 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loni is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Loni 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 Loni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 2,849
- Black or African American7.8% · 298
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 265
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 174
- Two or more races4.5% · 172
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 68
Gender
Gender distribution for Loni
Loni leans heavily female at 97.2% of total registrations, but 108 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Loni as a male name
- Ranked #6,045 in 1984
- 6 male births in 1984
- Peak: 1963 (10 births)
Loni as a female name
- Ranked #7,417 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (325 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loni leans strongly female. 3,616 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 212 male bearers (5.5%).
Popularity
Loni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loni from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,747 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loni 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 Loni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lonis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Loni, while West Virginia, Tennessee, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loni
The name Loni is believed to have its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture, dating back several centuries. It is a variant of the name Lono, which was the name of the Hawaiian god of fertility, rain, and agriculture. The name Lono is derived from the Proto-Polynesian word *longo, meaning "deliverance" or "peace."
In Hawaiian mythology, Lono was one of the four principal deities, along with Kāne, Kū, and Kanaloa. He was associated with the rainy season and was celebrated during the annual Makahiki festival, which marked the beginning of the Hawaiian new year. During this festival, battles and wars were prohibited, and the people engaged in various religious ceremonies and games.
The name Loni is not widely recorded in ancient texts or historical records, as it is a relatively modern variation of the traditional Hawaiian name Lono. However, there are several notable figures throughout history who have borne this name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Loni is Loni Uhane (1899-1980), a Hawaiian singer and musician who was known for her performances of traditional Hawaiian music. She was born on the island of Kauai and was a member of the Royal Hawaiian Band.
Another notable figure with the name Loni is Loni Anderson (born 1945), an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Marlowe on the television series WKRP in Cincinnati. She has also appeared in numerous other television shows and films throughout her career.
Loni Willison (born 1963) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 7 in the world in 1983 and won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Loni Ternbach (born 1979) is an American professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Loni Gunn. She has performed for various wrestling promotions, including Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and WWE.
Loni Love (born 1971) is an American comedian, actress, and television host. She is a recurring contributor on the daytime talk show The Real and has appeared in several films and television shows.
While the name Loni is not as widely used as some other Hawaiian names, it carries a rich cultural heritage and connection to the islands' mythology and traditions. Its association with the god Lono and the Makahiki festival highlights the importance of fertility, rain, and agriculture in Hawaiian culture.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Loni
People
Loni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loni 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
Loni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,486 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loni 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 98,323 US residents.
Is Loni a common name?
We classify Loni as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,862 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loni most popular?
The single biggest year for Loni was 1980, when 332 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loni is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,826 people with the name Loni, or 1.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,751 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 Loni 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 Loni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loni leans strongly female. 3,616 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 212 male bearers (5.5%). 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 Loni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loni is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Loni most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (2,849 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 Loni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loni a female name?
Yes, 97.2% of people registered as Loni 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 Loni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loni 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 Loni 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 Loni?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.