Tonya Smith
There are approximately 842 people named Tonya Smith living in the United States today. That makes this name combination very rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 407,072 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Tonya with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Smith. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census demographics where available.
Expected bearers
842
1 in 407,072
Named Tonya
106K
Alive today
Named Smith
2.7M
Alive today
US population
343M
Denominator
Estimated living: 106K
Rarity: Common
Gender: Female
Peak year: 1972
Average age: 53
Top Census group: White (66.9%)
Estimated bearers: 2.7M
Rarity: Very Common
Census rank: #1
Per 100K: 792.79
Top ancestry: White (68.0%)
First name trend
Tonya: popularity over time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Tonya. The peak year was 1972 with 7,272 births. The average person named Tonya today is 53 years old.
Babies born per year
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tonya
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the first name Tonya, from the 2020 US Census Bureau first-name tables. The largest published group is White at 66.9%.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Tonya described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. These are self-reported numbers, and they describe the population who happened to carry the name Tonya at the time of the Census. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity.
- 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
Ethnicity
Ancestry of the Smith surname
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the surname Smith, from the 2020 US Census Bureau. The largest group is White at 68.0%.
The bar chart below shows how people with the surname Smith described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. These are self-reported numbers, and they describe the population who happened to carry the surname Smith at the time of the Census. A surname does not determine a person's race or ethnicity.
- White68.0% · 1,611,236
- Black or African American22.6% · 535,967
- Two or more races4.4% · 103,611
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 82,947
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 19,744
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 16,139
Methodology
How we calculated this
The first name Tonya has a living-bearer frequency of 0.0310% of the US population, based on 106,268 estimated living Americans carrying this first name (from SSA birth records going back to 1880, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables).
Even though the Census Bureau now publishes first-name tables, we do not use that file as the main first-name input for this estimate. The latest first-name Census snapshot is from 2020, which makes it 6 years old today. Because Census first-name data is only released once every 10 years, SSA birth records plus CDC survival rates give a better current estimate of how many people are likely alive with the name Tonya right now.
The surname Smith appears at a rate of 792.79 per 100,000 residents in the 2020 Census Bureau surname file, which translates to a frequency of 0.7928%.
Multiplying these two independent frequencies against the current US population of 342,754,338 gives an expected count of approximately 842 people with the full name Tonya Smith. This assumes statistical independence between first and last names, which is a simplification but produces reasonable estimates for most combinations.
Related
Other people with the surname Smith
FAQ
Tonya Smith: questions and answers
How many people are named Tonya Smith?
We estimate approximately 842 people in the United States share the full name Tonya Smith. That works out to about 1 in 407,072 Americans. This is calculated by combining the first-name frequency (0.0310%) with the surname frequency (792.79 per 100K) against the current US population.
How rare is the name Tonya Smith?
We classify Tonya Smith as "Very Rare". About 1 in 407,072 Americans share this exact first and last name combination.
Is Tonya a male or female name?
Tonya is predominantly female. Out of 120,847 total SSA registrations, 0.4% were male and 99.6% were female. See the full Tonya profile for detailed gender data.
Where does this data come from?
First-name data comes from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files (1880 to 2024). Surname data comes from the 2020 US Census Bureau decennial surname tables. Living-bearer estimates use CDC actuarial life tables to adjust for mortality. Read the full methodology.
How many people are named Tonya Smith?
See how common the name Tonya Smith is on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.