Tonya
A feminine Russian name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from the Greek name Antonia.
Name Census estimates that about 106,268 living Americans carry the first name Tonya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tonya today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tonya births was 1972 (7,272 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tonya. 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 Tonya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tonya is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 435 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1970s, recent registration numbers for Tonya have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
106K
~ 1 in 3,225 Americans
Peak year
1972
7,272 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1986 SSA rank
#5,885
Tracked since 1923
Census
Tonya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 100,566 people with the first name Tonya, which placed it at #549 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
#549
National first-name rank
People counted
101K
100,566 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
33.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tonya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tonya is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Black (24.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Tonya 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 Tonya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.9% · 67,237
- Black or African American24.8% · 24,981
- Two or more races3.9% · 3,911
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 2,822
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 1,182
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 433
Gender
Gender distribution for Tonya
Out of the 120,847 babies given the name Tonya since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Tonya as a male name
- Ranked #5,885 in 1986
- 7 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1974 (35 births)
Tonya as a female name
- Ranked #6,590 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1972 (7,243 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tonya appears almost entirely female. Of the 100,565 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tonya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tonya from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 58,047 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
Tonya 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 Tonya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tonyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Ohio, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Tonya, while Hawaii, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,311 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tonya
The name Tonya is a feminine given name that originated from the Russian language. It is a diminutive form of the name Antonina, which is derived from the Latin name Antonius. The name Antonius itself is believed to have originated from the ancient Roman family name Antonii.
Tonya gained popularity in Russia during the Middle Ages, where it was commonly used as a pet form of Antonina. It is possible that the name was initially influenced by the veneration of Saint Antonina, a Christian martyr from the 3rd century AD who was born in Nicaea (present-day Turkey).
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tonya can be found in the Russian chronicles from the 12th century, where a woman named Tonya was mentioned as the wife of a prominent nobleman. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until the 19th century when it became more common among the Russian aristocracy and middle class.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Tonya. Tonya Harding (born 1970) is an American figure skater who gained notoriety for her involvement in the attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan, in 1994. Tonya Graves (born 1964) is an American actress and comedian best known for her roles in the television series "Girlfriends" and "The Steve Harvey Show".
Tonya Kinzinger (born 1974) is a former American professional tennis player who reached a career-high ranking of No. 16 in the world in 1997. Tonya Craft (born 1976) is an American former schoolteacher who was falsely accused and acquitted of child molestation charges in 2010, a case that garnered national attention.
Tonya Lee Williams (born 1953) is an American actress best known for her role as Natalie Bannon on the television series "The Young and the Restless", for which she received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations.
People
Tonya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tonya 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
Tonya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tonya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 106,268 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tonya 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 3,225 US residents.
Is Tonya a common name?
We classify Tonya as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 120,847 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tonya most popular?
The single biggest year for Tonya was 1972, when 7,272 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tonya 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 Tonya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 100,566 people with the name Tonya, or 33.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #549 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 Tonya 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 Tonya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tonya appears almost entirely female. Of the 100,565 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Tonya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tonya is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Black (24.8%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Tonya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tonya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.9% (67,237 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 Tonya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tonya a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Tonya 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 Tonya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tonya 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 Tonya 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 Tonya?
Want to know how many Americans are named Tonya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.