Latonja
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Antoinette.
Name Census estimates that about 606 living Americans carry the first name Latonja. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Latonja today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Latonja births was 1970 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Latonja. 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
606
~ 1 in 565,601 Americans
Peak year
1970
56 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1994 SSA rank
#14,701
Tracked since 1961
Census
Latonja in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 536 people with the first name Latonja, which placed it at #19,637 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
#19,637
National first-name rank
People counted
536
536 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Latonja
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latonja is Black at 92.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.4%) and White (2.2%). 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 Latonja 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 Latonja at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.9% · 498
- Two or more races2.4% · 13
- White2.2% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Latonja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Latonja from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 343 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Latonja 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 Latonja during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Latonjas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, Georgia recorded the most babies named Latonja, while South Carolina, Mississippi, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Latonja
The name Latonja originated from a combination of the Latin word "latus" meaning "side" and the French word "tonja" derived from the Old French word "tonnier" meaning "barrel maker." It first emerged in Southern France during the medieval period, likely as a surname for someone who lived near a barrel maker's shop or workshop.
In the 14th century, records show the name Latonja being used as a first name, primarily among lower-class families in the Provence region of France. It was later adopted by French nobility, with one of the earliest recorded instances being Latonja de Montpellier, a noblewoman born in 1387.
During the Renaissance period, the name Latonja gained popularity across Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain. In 1492, a Spanish explorer named Latonja Fernández accompanied Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the Americas, becoming one of the first Europeans to set foot in the New World.
In the 17th century, the name Latonja appeared in several literary works, including the play "La Tonja y el Barbero" by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. It was also mentioned in the writings of the French philosopher René Descartes, who had a servant named Latonja.
One of the most notable figures in history with the name Latonja was Latonja Marie Antoinette, a French aristocrat and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette. She was born in 1755 and was a witness to the events of the French Revolution.
In the 19th century, the name Latonja was popular among African American families in the United States, particularly in the South. One notable bearer of the name was Latonja Truth, an African American abolitionist and women's rights activist born in 1851, who was a contemporary of Sojourner Truth.
Another significant figure was Latonja Douglass, born in 1838, the daughter of the famous abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass. She was an educator and played a crucial role in the establishment of several schools for African American children.
In the 20th century, the name Latonja gained popularity in various parts of the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean. One notable bearer was Latonja Milagros Batista, a Cuban-American writer and activist born in 1928, who was a prominent figure in the Cuban exile community in Miami.
People
Latonja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Latonja as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Latonja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Latonja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 606 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Latonja 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 565,601 US residents.
Is Latonja a common name?
We classify Latonja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 684 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Latonja most popular?
The single biggest year for Latonja was 1970, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Latonja is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Latonja in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 536 people with the name Latonja, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,637 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 Latonja 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 Latonja?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Latonja appears almost entirely female. Of the 534 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Latonja?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latonja is Black at 92.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.4%) and White (2.2%). 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 Latonja most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Latonja in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.9% (498 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 Latonja in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Latonja a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Latonja 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 Latonja still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Latonja 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 Latonja 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 Latonja?
You can see how many Americans are named Latonja on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.