Humanverse

Lona vs Loney

American parents have registered 10,924 Lonas since 1880, against 785 Loneys. Lona is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lona against Loney, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lona Loney

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Lona has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1987, when Lona had 17 and Loney had 5.

Side by side

  Lona Loney
Total US births 10,924785
Most in one year 19833
Babies in 2025 12under 5
Estimated living today 4,200120
Median age today 6569
Peak year 19181915
Best rank 481st girls1,553rd boys
Rank in 2025 8,362ndunranked
First recorded 18801883
Girls / boys 10,907 / 17280 / 505

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Loneys alive today are over 69; half the Lonas are over 65. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Lona and Loney.