Roni
A diminutive form of the Hebrew name Ronen, meaning "joy" or "song".
Name Census estimates that about 4,727 living Americans carry the first name Roni. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Roni today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roni births was 1955 (307 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roni. 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 Roni with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 72,510 Americans
Peak year
1955
307 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,594
Tracked since 1939
Census
Roni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,859 people with the first name Roni, which placed it at #3,527 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
#3,527
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,859 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roni is White at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.2%) and Black (5.8%). 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 Roni 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 Roni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.4% · 4,124
- Hispanic or Latino16.2% · 950
- Black or African American5.8% · 340
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 215
- Two or more races2.8% · 165
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 65
Gender
Gender distribution for Roni
Roni leans heavily female at 85.3% of total registrations, but 811 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Roni as a male name
- Ranked #5,594 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (44 births)
Roni as a female name
- Ranked #7,166 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1955 (295 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Roni on both sides of the split. Of the 5,857 people counted with this name, 1,671 were male (28.5%) and 4,186 were female (71.5%).
Popularity
Roni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roni from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,012 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roni 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 Roni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ronis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Roni, while North Carolina, Georgia, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 79 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Roni
The name Roni is a unisex name that has its origins in various cultures and languages around the world. It is believed to be derived from the Hebrew name Ronen, which means "joyful song" or "melodious" in the Hebrew language.
In ancient times, the name Roni was used in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in regions with strong Jewish and Arabic cultural influences. The earliest recorded use of the name Roni can be traced back to the Biblical era, where it is mentioned in the Book of Judges, which dates back to the 12th century BCE.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Roni was Roni ben Hodesh, a Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in the 10th century CE in Spain. He was known for his contributions to the study of the Talmud and his writings on Jewish law and ethics.
In the 12th century, there was a famous Arabic poet named Roni al-Quds, who was born in Jerusalem and wrote numerous poems praising the city and its cultural heritage. His works are still celebrated today as part of the rich literary tradition of the region.
During the Renaissance period, the name Roni gained popularity in Italy, where it was often used as a shortened form of the Italian name Geronimo. One notable figure from this era was Roni da Vinci, a distant relative of the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci, who was a skilled sculptor and architect in his own right.
In the 19th century, the name Roni was also used in various parts of Europe, including France and Germany. A notable French artist who bore this name was Roni Degas, a painter and sculptor who was part of the Impressionist movement and was known for his depictions of dancers and scenes from everyday life.
Another famous individual with the name Roni was Roni Kruger, a South African freedom fighter and anti-apartheid activist who was a prominent member of the African National Congress (ANC) and played a significant role in the struggle against racial segregation in South Africa during the 20th century.
While the name Roni has been used across various cultures and time periods, it has maintained its connection to its Hebrew roots and continues to be a popular choice for parents seeking a name with a rich historical and cultural significance.
People
Roni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roni as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Roni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,727 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roni 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 72,510 US residents.
Is Roni a common name?
We classify Roni as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,500 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roni most popular?
The single biggest year for Roni was 1955, when 307 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roni is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,859 people with the name Roni, or 1.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,527 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 Roni 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 Roni?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Roni on both sides of the split. Of the 5,857 people counted with this name, 1,671 were male (28.5%) and 4,186 were female (71.5%). 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 Roni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roni is White at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.2%) and Black (5.8%). 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 Roni most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.4% (4,124 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 Roni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roni a female name?
Yes, 85.3% of people registered as Roni 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 Roni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roni 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 Roni 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 share the name Roni?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.