Noni
Sweet blossom or fragrant flower of the Indian mulberry tree.
Name Census estimates that about 618 living Americans carry the first name Noni. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Noni today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Noni births was 1975 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Noni. 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 Noni with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
618
~ 1 in 554,619 Americans
Peak year
1975
29 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,786
Tracked since 1946
Census
Noni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 707 people with the first name Noni, which placed it at #16,066 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
#16,066
National first-name rank
People counted
707
707 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
42.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Noni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Noni is Black at 42.0%. The next largest groups are White (29.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Noni 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 Noni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American42.0% · 297
- White29.6% · 209
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.2% · 72
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 69
- Two or more races6.9% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 11
Popularity
Noni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Noni from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 164 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Noni remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Noni 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 Noni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nonis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Noni, while California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Noni
The name Noni has its origins in several cultures and languages, with various meanings and historical references.
The name is derived from the Hawaiian word "noni," which refers to the noni plant, a small evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. In Hawaiian culture, the noni plant holds significant importance for its medicinal and spiritual properties.
Another possible origin of the name Noni can be traced back to the Italian language, where it is a diminutive form of the name Ioanna or Giovanna, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious." This Italian version of the name has been in use since the Middle Ages.
In ancient Greek mythology, Noni was the name of one of the Oceanids, sea nymphs who were the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. This reference suggests that the name may have been used in ancient Greek culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Noni dates back to the 16th century. Noni Orsino was an Italian actress and courtesan born in 1534, who gained fame for her beauty and theatrical performances in Rome.
In the 18th century, Noni Bambaji (1725-1800) was an Indian singer and courtesan from Lucknow, renowned for her musical talents and her role in the Nawabi culture of the Mughal Empire.
During the 20th century, Noni Hazlehurst (born 1953) is an Australian actress and author, best known for her roles in television series such as "A Country Practice" and "Rake."
Another notable figure is Noni Weidner (1920-2018), an American classical pianist and teacher who performed with various orchestras and taught at several prestigious music schools throughout her career.
Noni Madueke (born 1997) is a contemporary English footballer who currently plays as a winger for Chelsea F.C. in the Premier League and the England national team.
While the name Noni has diverse cultural origins and meanings, it has been used across various regions and time periods, often associated with artistic, cultural, and historical figures.
People
Noni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Noni as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Noni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Noni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 618 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Noni 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 554,619 US residents.
Is Noni a common name?
We classify Noni as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 675 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Noni most popular?
The single biggest year for Noni was 1975, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Noni is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Noni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 707 people with the name Noni, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,066 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 Noni 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 Noni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Noni leans strongly female. 689 people counted with this name were female (96.9%), compared with 22 male bearers (3.1%). 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 Noni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Noni is Black at 42.0%. The next largest groups are White (29.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Noni most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Noni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.0% (297 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 Noni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Noni a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Noni 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 Noni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Noni 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 Noni 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 people are named Noni?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.