Toni
A diminutive of the name Antonia or Antonio, meaning "priceless one".
Name Census estimates that about 81,000 living Americans carry the first name Toni. It is a predominantly female name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Toni today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Toni births was 1960 (2,929 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Toni. 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
- • Although Toni is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,555 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Toni have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
81K
~ 1 in 4,232 Americans
Peak year
1960
2,929 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,184
Tracked since 1907
Gender
Gender distribution for Toni
Toni leans heavily female at 98.5% of total registrations, but 1,555 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Toni as a male name
- Ranked #7,188 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (35 births)
Toni as a female name
- Ranked #2,184 in 2024
- 87 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (2,897 births)
Popularity
Toni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Toni from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 25,090 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
Toni 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 Toni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tonis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Toni, while Vermont, Alaska, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,896 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Toni
The name Toni has its roots in the Latin language and is derived from the name Antonius, which itself is believed to have originated from the Etruscan name Antonu. The name Antonius was a prominent Roman family name, with the first recorded use dating back to the 1st century BC.
Toni is a diminutive form of the name Antonius, and its earliest recorded use can be traced back to the Middle Ages in various European regions. In Italy, Toni was a common nickname for Antonio, while in Germany and other Germanic regions, it was used as a diminutive for Anton.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Toni was Toni de Vivaldi, an Italian composer and violinist who lived from 1678 to 1741. He was a contemporary of the renowned composer Antonio Vivaldi and is known for his contributions to the development of the concerto grosso form.
In the literary world, Toni Morrison, born in 1931, was an American novelist, essayist, and professor who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Her novels, such as "Beloved" and "The Bluest Eye," explored the experiences of African Americans and addressed themes of race, identity, and discrimination.
Toni Kroos, born in 1990, is a German professional football player who has played for clubs like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. He is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation and has won numerous titles, including the FIFA World Cup in 2014 with the German national team.
In the world of art, Toni Frissell, who lived from 1907 to 1988, was an American photographer renowned for her fashion photography and portraits. Her work appeared in publications like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and she was among the first women to be hired as a staff photographer for Life magazine.
Toni Cade Bambara, an African American writer, activist, and filmmaker, lived from 1939 to 1995. Her works, such as the short story collection "Gorilla, My Love," explored themes of racial injustice, feminism, and social change, and she was a prominent figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Toni
People
Toni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Toni 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
Toni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Toni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 81,000 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Toni 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 4,232 US residents.
Is Toni a common name?
We classify Toni as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 101,670 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Toni most popular?
The single biggest year for Toni was 1960, when 2,929 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Toni is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Toni a female name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Toni 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.