Tonda
A masculine name of Native American origin meaning "little town".
Name Census estimates that about 1,919 living Americans carry the first name Tonda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tonda today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tonda births was 1964 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tonda. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 178,611 Americans
Peak year
1964
135 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1989 SSA rank
#7,998
Tracked since 1942
Popularity
Tonda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tonda from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,085 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
Tonda 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 Tonda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tondas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana recorded the most babies named Tonda, while Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 55 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tonda
The name Tonda has its origins in the Czech language, deriving from the diminutive form of the masculine name Toman. The name Toman itself is thought to have originated from the Hebrew name Thomas, meaning "twin." Tonda was primarily used in the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, which are now part of the modern-day Czech Republic.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tonda can be found in the 16th-century work "Kronika česká" (Czech Chronicle) by the renowned Bohemian historian Václav Hájek z Libočan. The chronicle mentions a character named Tonda, though it is unclear whether this was a real historical figure or a fictional character.
In the realm of literature, the name gained prominence through the character of Tonda in the 19th-century novel "Babička" (The Grandmother) by the Czech writer Božena Němcová. This novel, considered a classic of Czech literature, helped to popularize the name among the Czech population.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Tonda was Tonda Blaník (1910-1944), a Czech soldier who fought against the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia during World War II. He was a member of the Czechoslovak resistance movement and played a crucial role in several sabotage operations against the German forces.
Another individual of note was Tonda Čmelík (1935-2018), a Czech artist and illustrator renowned for his work in children's books and magazines. His vibrant and whimsical illustrations captured the imagination of generations of Czech children throughout the latter half of the 20th century.
In the field of sports, Tonda Kramerius (1918-1998) was a prominent Czech ice hockey player and coach. He represented Czechoslovakia in the 1948 Winter Olympics and later served as the head coach of the national team, leading them to several international victories.
While the name Tonda has its roots in Czech culture, it has also been adopted in other Slavic languages, such as Slovak and Polish, where it retains similar diminutive forms and meanings. However, its usage remains predominantly concentrated in the Czech Republic and surrounding regions.
People
Tonda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tonda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tonda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tonda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,919 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tonda 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 178,611 US residents.
Is Tonda a common name?
We classify Tonda as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,426 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tonda most popular?
The single biggest year for Tonda was 1964, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tonda is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tonda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tonda 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.