Wyona
A feminine given name meaning "firstborn daughter".
Name Census estimates that about 166 living Americans carry the first name Wyona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Wyona today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wyona births was 1924 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wyona. 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
- • The typical person named Wyona is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Wyonas were born before 1958.
People living today
166
~ 1 in 2,064,785 Americans
Peak year
1924
32 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1968 SSA rank
#7,001
Tracked since 1911
Census
Wyona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 320 people with the first name Wyona, which placed it at #28,183 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
#28,183
National first-name rank
People counted
320
320 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wyona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wyona is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Wyona 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 Wyona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.1% · 234
- Black or African American16.3% · 52
- Two or more races3.4% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 5
Popularity
Wyona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wyona from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 225 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wyona 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 Wyona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wyonas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wyona
The name Wyona is a Native American name of uncertain origin, though it is believed to have originated among the Algonquian tribes of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. The name is thought to be derived from the Algonquian word "wayo," which means "woman" or "female," suggesting that Wyona may have been a feminine name given to girls.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wyona can be found in historical records from the 17th century, where it appears as the name of a young Algonquian woman who lived in what is now Massachusetts. This Wyona is said to have been a member of the Wampanoag tribe and was born around 1630.
In the late 18th century, the name Wyona was also recorded as the name of a Lenape (Delaware) woman who lived in what is now Pennsylvania. This Wyona was born around 1760 and was known for her skill in basket weaving and her knowledge of traditional herbal remedies.
In the 19th century, the name Wyona gained some popularity among European Americans, particularly those living in the northeastern United States. One notable figure from this time period was Wyona Ellsworth, a teacher and activist born in 1848 in Maine. She was a prominent advocate for women's rights and education reform.
Another historical figure named Wyona was Wyona Leaphart, a Choctaw artist and potter who lived from 1895 to 1985. She was renowned for her intricate and beautifully decorated pottery, which drew heavily from traditional Choctaw designs and motifs.
In the early 20th century, the name Wyona was also used by Wyona Courtney, a Canadian author and journalist born in 1905. She wrote several novels and short stories that explored themes of Indigenous culture and identity in Canada.
While the name Wyona has its roots in Native American cultures, it has also been adopted and used by individuals of various backgrounds over the centuries, reflecting its enduring appeal and the rich diversity of names that have emerged from different cultural traditions.
People
Wyona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wyona as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wyona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wyona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 166 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wyona 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 2,064,785 US residents.
Is Wyona a common name?
We classify Wyona as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 782 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wyona most popular?
The single biggest year for Wyona was 1924, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wyona is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wyona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 320 people with the name Wyona, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,183 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 Wyona 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 Wyona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wyona leans strongly female. 321 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 9 male bearers (2.7%). 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 Wyona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wyona is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Wyona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wyona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (234 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 Wyona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wyona a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wyona 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 Wyona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wyona 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 Wyona 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 Wyona as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.