Tony
A masculine diminutive of the Latin name Antonius meaning "priceless one".
Name Census estimates that about 194,799 living Americans carry the first name Tony. It is a predominantly male name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Tony today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tony births was 1961 (8,363 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tony. 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 Tony with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tony is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,889 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Tony have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
195K
~ 1 in 1,760 Americans
Peak year
1961
8,363 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#803
Tracked since 1880
Census
Tony in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 191,116 people with the first name Tony, which placed it at #290 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
#290
National first-name rank
People counted
191K
191,116 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
63.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tony
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tony is White at 50.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.8%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Tony 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 Tony at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.7% · 96,860
- Black or African American20.8% · 39,767
- Hispanic or Latino14.3% · 27,307
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.4% · 19,930
- Two or more races2.8% · 5,335
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,917
Gender
Gender distribution for Tony
Tony leans heavily male at 98.9% of total registrations, but 2,889 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tony as a male name
- Ranked #803 in 2024
- 313 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1961 (8,301 births)
Tony as a female name
- Ranked #17,755 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1970 (78 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tony leans strongly male. 188,832 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 2,283 female bearers (1.2%).
Popularity
Tony: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tony from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 71,181 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
Tony 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 Tony during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tonys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Tony, while Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,850 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tony
The name Tony is a diminutive form of the Roman family name Antonius, which is derived from the Ancient Roman name Antonius. The name Antonius is believed to have originated from the Antonii, a respectable family in ancient Rome that can be traced back to the 3rd century BC. The root of the name is likely from the Greek word "anthos," meaning flower or blossom.
The name Antonius is mentioned in several ancient texts and historical records from the Roman era. One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Marcus Antonius, a Roman politician and general who was a key figure in the Roman Republic's transition to the Roman Empire. He lived from 83 BC to 30 BC and was a member of the Second Triumvirate, along with Octavian and Lepidus.
Another famous Antonius was the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, who ruled from 138 AD to 161 AD. He was known for his peaceful reign and for promoting the prosperity of the Roman Empire. During his time, the name Antonius became more widespread and popular among the Roman population.
As the name Antonius spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, it evolved into various forms and diminutives, including Tony. One of the earliest recorded examples of the diminutive Tony was in the 13th century, referring to a man named Tony de Saulnay in France.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name Tony. One of the most famous was Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister who served from 1997 to 2007. Other notable individuals include Tony Hawk, the professional skateboarder, born in 1968; Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker and self-help author, born in 1960; Tony Bennett, the American singer and painter, born in 1926; and Tony Soprano, the fictional character from the HBO series "The Sopranos," which aired from 1999 to 2007.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tony
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Tony Bancroft
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Tony Batista
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Tony Benedict
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Tony Boselli
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Tony Bui
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Tony Clark
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Tony Curran
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Tony Curtis
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Tony Danza
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Tony Dorsett
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Tony Esposito
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Tony Giglio
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Tony Goldwyn
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Tony Gonzalez
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Tony Gwynn
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Tony Hawk
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Tony Hill
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Tony Kaye
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Tony Larussa
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Tony Leung
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Tony Oliva
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Tony Palmer
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Tony Parker
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Tony Randall
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Tony Randel
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Tony Richardson
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Tony Scott
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Tony Shalhoub
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Tony Sirico
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Tony Stewart
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Tony Vitale
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Tony Womack
People
Tony + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tony 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
Tony: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tony?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 194,799 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tony 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 1,760 US residents.
Is Tony a common name?
We classify Tony as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254,158 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tony most popular?
The single biggest year for Tony was 1961, when 8,363 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tony is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tony in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 191,116 people with the name Tony, or 63.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #290 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 Tony 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 Tony?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tony leans strongly male. 188,832 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 2,283 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Tony?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tony is White at 50.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.8%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Tony most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tony in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.7% (96,860 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 Tony in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tony a male name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Tony in the SSA data are male. 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 Tony still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tony 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 Tony 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 Tony?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.