Humanverse

Tona vs Toney

American parents have registered 6,610 Toneys since 1880, against 1,427 Tonas. But in 2025 it was Tona that was commoner, 6 babies to 6.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Tona Toney

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

Toney 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 2025, when Tona had 6 and Toney had 6.

Side by side

  Tona Toney
Total US births 1,4276,610
Most in one year 59193
Babies in 2025 66
Estimated living today 1,2004,300
Median age today 5957
Peak year 19641961
Best rank 1,470th girls579th boys
Rank in 2025 13,208th10,695th
First recorded 19241880
Girls / boys 1,427 / 0194 / 6,416

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 Tonas alive today are over 59; half the Toneys are over 57. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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