Onna
Feminine Japanese name meaning "woman" or "female".
Name Census estimates that about 598 living Americans carry the first name Onna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Onna today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Onna births was 2015 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Onna. 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
598
~ 1 in 573,168 Americans
Peak year
2015
33 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,792
Tracked since 1927
Census
Onna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 631 people with the first name Onna, which placed it at #17,471 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
#17,471
National first-name rank
People counted
631
631 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Onna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Onna is White at 60.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Onna 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 Onna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.7% · 383
- Black or African American16.0% · 101
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 53
- Two or more races7.8% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 17
Popularity
Onna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Onna from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 165 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Onna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Onna 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 Onna 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 Onna
The name Onna has its origins in Japanese culture and language. It is a feminine given name that translates to "woman" or "female" in Japanese. The name can be traced back to the ancient Japanese word "on'na," which was used to refer to a woman or a female human being.
In Japanese mythology, Onna was often associated with the concept of femininity and the role of women in society. Some ancient Japanese texts, such as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which date back to the 8th century, may have included references to this name or its variations.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Onna can be found in the historical records of the Heian period (794-1185 AD) in Japan. During this time, it was not uncommon for women to be given names that reflected their gender or social status.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Onna. One such person was Onna Issho (1618-1687), a Japanese Zen Buddhist nun and poet who lived during the Edo period. She was renowned for her spiritual teachings and her contributions to the development of Japanese literature.
Another famous Onna was Onna Bugeisha (1624-1680), a skilled female samurai warrior who fought alongside her husband during the Siege of Osaka in the early 17th century. Her bravery and martial prowess were highly respected, and she became a symbol of female empowerment in Japanese culture.
In the world of art, Onna Kanoko (1786-1858) was a renowned Japanese painter and calligrapher who specialized in traditional Japanese painting styles. Her works were widely appreciated for their delicate beauty and attention to detail.
Moving to more recent times, Onna Takenaka (1925-2015) was a Japanese actress and singer who rose to prominence in the post-World War II era. She appeared in numerous films and television shows, and her performances were highly acclaimed for their emotional depth and authenticity.
Lastly, Onna Nakamura (born 1972) is a contemporary Japanese writer and poet who has received critical acclaim for her exploration of gender, identity, and cultural issues in her works. Her poetry and novels have been widely translated and have garnered international recognition.
People
Onna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Onna as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Onna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Onna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 598 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Onna 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 573,168 US residents.
Is Onna a common name?
We classify Onna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 643 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Onna most popular?
The single biggest year for Onna was 2015, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Onna is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Onna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 631 people with the name Onna, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,471 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 Onna 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 Onna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Onna leans strongly female. 618 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 13 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Onna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Onna is White at 60.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Onna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Onna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.7% (383 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 Onna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Onna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Onna 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 Onna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Onna 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 Onna 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 Onna?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.