Rona
A feminine given name of Scottish origin meaning "rough stream".
Name Census estimates that about 3,735 living Americans carry the first name Rona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rona today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rona births was 1966 (153 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rona. 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 Rona with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.7K
~ 1 in 91,768 Americans
Peak year
1966
153 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,149
Tracked since 1896
Census
Rona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,285 people with the first name Rona, which placed it at #3,763 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
#3,763
National first-name rank
People counted
5.3K
5,285 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rona is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.8%) and Black (13.5%). 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 Rona 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 Rona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 3,347
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.8% · 837
- Black or African American13.5% · 711
- Two or more races3.7% · 195
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 150
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 45
Popularity
Rona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rona from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,333 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
Rona 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 Rona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ronas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Rona, while Wisconsin, Tennessee, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 105 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rona
The name Rona is believed to have originated from the Scottish Gaelic language, derived from the word "ruan," which means "brown" or "reddish-brown." It is thought to have been used as a descriptive name for individuals with reddish-brown hair or complexion.
The earliest known use of the name Rona dates back to the 16th century in Scotland. One of the earliest recorded instances was Rona MacLeod, a woman from the Scottish Highlands in the late 1500s. Records indicate that she was a prominent figure in her local community.
In the 17th century, the name Rona appeared in various Scottish historical records and documents. One notable example is Rona MacDonald, born in 1632, who was a prominent landowner and chieftain of the MacDonald clan in the Scottish Highlands.
The name Rona gained wider recognition in the 19th century, when it appeared in several works of literature. One example is the character Rona Macdonald in the novel "The Princess of Thule" by William Black, published in 1873. This novel helped popularize the name among English-speaking audiences.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name Rona. One such person was Rona Munro, a Scottish playwright and screenwriter born in 1959. Her notable works include the play "Iron" and the screenplay for the film "Ladybird, Ladybird."
Another notable figure was Rona Jaffe, an American novelist and playwright born in 1931. She is best known for her bestselling novel "The Best of Everything," which explored the lives of working women in New York City in the 1950s.
In the field of sports, Rona Mackenzie was a Scottish golfer born in 1901. She won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in 1926 and was a prominent figure in Scottish golf during the early 20th century.
Additionally, Rona Findlay was a Scottish artist and sculptor born in 1905. She was known for her works in bronze and her sculptures can be found in various public spaces throughout Scotland.
Lastly, Rona Hartfield was a British actress born in 1938. She had a successful career in television and film, appearing in popular shows such as "Doctor Who" and "Coronation Street."
People
Rona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rona 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
Rona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,735 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rona 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 91,768 US residents.
Is Rona a common name?
We classify Rona as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,444 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rona most popular?
The single biggest year for Rona was 1966, when 153 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rona is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,285 people with the name Rona, or 1.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,763 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 Rona 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 Rona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rona leans strongly female. 5,197 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 97 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Rona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rona is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.8%) and Black (13.5%). 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 Rona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (3,347 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 Rona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rona a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rona 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 Rona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rona 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 Rona 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 common is the name Rona?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.