Lonie
A feminine name derived from the French word "lionet", meaning "little lion".
Name Census estimates that about 499 living Americans carry the first name Lonie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Lonie today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lonie births was 1919 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lonie. 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
- • Lonie sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • The typical person named Lonie is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lonies were born before 1965.
People living today
499
~ 1 in 686,882 Americans
Peak year
1919
76 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1990 SSA rank
#8,962
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Lonie
Lonie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,755 total registrations, 1,078 (39.1%) were male and 1,677 (60.9%) were female.
Lonie as a male name
- Ranked #8,962 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1921 (33 births)
Lonie as a female name
- Ranked #13,620 in 1989
- 5 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1914 (44 births)
Popularity
Lonie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lonie from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 531 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
Lonie 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 Lonie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lonies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. North Carolina, Alabama, Texas recorded the most babies named Lonie, while California, South Carolina, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lonie
The name Lonie is a variant of the Greek name Leonie, which is a feminine form of the name Leon. The name Leon is derived from the Greek word "leon," meaning "lion." The name Lonie is thought to have originated in Greece during ancient times.
The earliest recorded use of the name Lonie dates back to the 16th century in Europe. During this time, the name was often spelled as "Loni" or "Lonnie." The name gained popularity in England and Scotland during the 17th and 18th centuries.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Lonie was Lonie Robertson, a Scottish poet who lived in the late 16th century. She is known for her collection of poetry titled "The Muses' Delight."
In the 19th century, Lonie Adair was a Scottish painter known for her landscape and portrait works. She was born in 1825 and died in 1901.
Lonie Macdonald was a Scottish journalist and author who lived from 1876 to 1945. She wrote several novels and short stories, many of which were set in her native Scotland.
Lonie Hislop was a British actress and singer who was active in the early 20th century. She appeared in several stage productions and recorded several popular songs during the 1920s.
Lonie Braithwaite was an English cricketer who played for the Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1930s and 1940s. He was born in 1911 and died in 1986.
The name Lonie has been used throughout history, primarily in Europe, particularly in Scotland and England. While not as common as some other names, it has been used consistently over the centuries, often as a feminine variant of the name Leon or as a standalone name.
People
Lonie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lonie 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
Lonie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lonie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 499 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lonie 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 686,882 US residents.
Is Lonie a common name?
We classify Lonie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,755 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lonie most popular?
The single biggest year for Lonie was 1919, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lonie is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Lonie a female name?
Yes, 60.9% of people registered as Lonie 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.