Stoney
Diminutive of Stone, a name derived from the hardened rock.
Name Census estimates that about 2,823 living Americans carry the first name Stoney. It is a predominantly male name (95.2% of registrations). The average person named Stoney today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stoney births was 1963 (259 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stoney. 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 Stoney is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 155 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 121,415 Americans
Peak year
1963
259 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,900
Tracked since 1922
Census
Stoney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,163 people with the first name Stoney, which placed it at #7,134 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
#7,134
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,163 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stoney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stoney is White at 70.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.9%). 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 Stoney 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 Stoney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.6% · 1,528
- Black or African American14.6% · 315
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.9% · 107
- Two or more races4.6% · 100
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 84
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 29
Gender
Gender distribution for Stoney
Stoney leans heavily male at 95.2% of total registrations, but 155 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Stoney as a male name
- Ranked #2,900 in 2024
- 44 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1963 (259 births)
Stoney as a female name
- Ranked #6,110 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stoney leans strongly male. 2,018 people counted with this name were male (93.4%), compared with 142 female bearers (6.6%).
Popularity
Stoney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stoney from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 815 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
Stoney 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 Stoney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stoneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the most babies named Stoney, while Missouri, Colorado, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 47 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stoney
The name Stoney has its origins rooted in the Old English language, derived from the word "stān," which means "stone" or "rock." This name emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period, spanning from the 5th to the 11th century AD, when England was inhabited by Germanic tribes.
In those times, surnames were often descriptive, reflecting a person's occupation, physical characteristics, or the place they lived. The name Stoney likely referred to someone who lived near a rocky or stony area, or perhaps worked with stone as a mason or quarryman.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Stoney can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and properties in England commissioned by William the Conquer in 1086. This historical record mentions a landowner named "Stoney" residing in the county of Wiltshire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Stoney. One of the most prominent was George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911), an Irish physicist and mathematician who introduced the concept of the "electron" as a fundamental unit of electricity in 1874, decades before its experimental discovery.
Another significant figure was George Stoney (1835-1911), an Irish civil engineer and architect who designed several notable structures in Dublin, including the Shelbourne Hotel and the Royal College of Science for Ireland (now part of University College Dublin).
In the field of literature, Stoney Calhoun (1877-1949) was an American author best known for his collection of short stories titled "The Eternal Crossroads," which explored the complexities of human relationships and the struggles of everyday life in the early 20th century.
The name Stoney also appears in military history with Major General Stanford Stoney (1903-1995), a highly decorated British Army officer who served in both World War I and World War II, receiving the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross for his bravery and leadership.
Lastly, Stoney St. Clair (1914-1989) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader who performed with some of the most influential musicians of his time, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker, leaving an indelible mark on the world of jazz music.
People
Stoney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stoney as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Stoney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stoney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,823 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stoney 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 121,415 US residents.
Is Stoney a common name?
We classify Stoney as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,211 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stoney most popular?
The single biggest year for Stoney was 1963, when 259 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stoney is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stoney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,163 people with the name Stoney, or 0.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,134 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 Stoney 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 Stoney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stoney leans strongly male. 2,018 people counted with this name were male (93.4%), compared with 142 female bearers (6.6%). 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 Stoney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stoney is White at 70.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.9%). 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 Stoney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stoney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.6% (1,528 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 Stoney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stoney a male name?
Yes, 95.2% of people registered as Stoney 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 Stoney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stoney 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 Stoney 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 have Stoney as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.