Tonia
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "praiseworthy" or "deserving of esteem".
Name Census estimates that about 19,039 living Americans carry the first name Tonia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tonia today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tonia births was 1971 (1,431 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tonia. 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 Tonia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tonia is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 53 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 18,003 Americans
Peak year
1971
1,431 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1977 SSA rank
#6,790
Tracked since 1917
Census
Tonia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,532 people with the first name Tonia, which placed it at #1,677 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
#1,677
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
18,532 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tonia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tonia is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Tonia 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 Tonia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.8% · 11,264
- Black or African American28.8% · 5,338
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 796
- Two or more races3.9% · 725
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 245
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 164
Gender
Gender distribution for Tonia
Out of the 22,239 babies given the name Tonia since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tonia as a male name
- Ranked #6,790 in 1977
- 5 male births in 1977
- Peak: 1976 (7 births)
Tonia as a female name
- Ranked #17,423 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (1,429 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tonia appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,527 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tonia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tonia from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 9,974 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
Tonia 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 Tonia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tonias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Ohio, California, New York recorded the most babies named Tonia, while Rhode Island, Nevada, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 389 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tonia
The name Tonia has its origins in the ancient Greek language, tracing back to the classical era of the 5th century BCE. It is a feminine form derived from the Greek name Antonios, which itself stems from the Roman family name Antonius. The root of the name is believed to be the Greek word "antos," meaning "inestimable" or "priceless."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tonia can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who mentioned a woman by that name in his work "The Histories." In the text, Tonia is described as a noble woman from the city of Ephesus, a prominent cultural and commercial center in Ionian Greek territories.
During the Byzantine era, the name Tonia gained popularity among the ruling classes and aristocracy of the Eastern Roman Empire. One notable figure was Tonia Palaiologina, a Byzantine princess who lived in the 14th century and was a member of the illustrious Palaiologos dynasty.
As the name spread across Europe, it underwent various linguistic adaptations and spelling variations. In the 16th century, the Italian Renaissance poet Tonia Tasso, born in 1544, gained recognition for her poetic works celebrating love and nature.
In the realm of arts and literature, Tonia Celli, an Italian actress born in 1865, made a name for herself on the stages of Europe, portraying leading roles in numerous theatrical productions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Another notable figure was Tonia Boulanger, a French composer, conductor, and influential music teacher who lived from 1893 to 1979. She had a profound impact on generations of musicians, including renowned composers such as Aaron Copland and Philip Glass.
In the world of sports, Tonia Vicic, a Croatian tennis player born in 1975, achieved success on the professional circuit, winning multiple titles and representing her country in international competitions.
While the name Tonia has undergone various linguistic and cultural adaptations throughout history, its Greek roots and the essence of its meaning, "inestimable" or "priceless," have remained intact, carrying a rich legacy through the lives and contributions of remarkable individuals who have borne this name.
People
Tonia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tonia 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
Tonia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tonia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,039 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tonia 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 18,003 US residents.
Is Tonia a common name?
We classify Tonia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,239 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tonia most popular?
The single biggest year for Tonia was 1971, when 1,431 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tonia 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 Tonia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,532 people with the name Tonia, or 6.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,677 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 Tonia 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 Tonia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tonia appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,527 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Tonia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tonia is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Tonia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tonia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (11,264 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 Tonia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tonia a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Tonia 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 Tonia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tonia 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 Tonia 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 are named Tonia?
Find out how many Americans are named Tonia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.