Humanverse

Onna vs Onnie

American parents have registered 1,736 Onnies since 1880, against 656 Onnas. But in 2025 it was Onna that was commoner, 12 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Onna against Onnie, 1880 to 2025 0 15 30 45 60 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Onna Onnie

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

Of the 130 years in which either name was published, Onnie for 80 years and Onna for 50 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.

Side by side

  Onna Onnie
Total US births 6561,736
Most in one year 3356
Babies in 2025 12under 5
Estimated living today 620420
Median age today 2173
Peak year 20151922
Best rank 4,295th girls1,403rd girls
Rank in 2025 8,362ndunranked
First recorded 19271885
Girls / boys 656 / 01,079 / 657

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 Onnies alive today are over 73; half the Onnas are over 21. That is 52 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

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