Jona
Jona is given to both girls and boys: 6 girls and 13 boys were given it in 2025 (#13,971 among girls’ names and #6,627 among boys’, #10,786 among all names counting both); 2,277 Americans have been recorded with it since 1922 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,090 Americans named Jona and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 42 years old and half are between 19 and 57.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jona by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jona mean?
Wiktionary, Norwegian Bokmål section
Jona is “a female given name from Norwegian” Its etymology gives the senses “male given name” (Jon) and “feminine name-forming suffix” (-a).
Also “a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Jonah”
From Jon (“male given name”) + -a (“feminine name-forming suffix”). Alternatively, a contracted form of Johanna.
/ˈjuː.na/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Norwegian Bokmål section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jona?
#13,971 among girls’ names, 2025
Jona fell from #7,424 in 2015 to #13,971 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 9.0 to 3.7 per million.
57 babies in 1964, the peak
Jona peaked in 1964, when 57 girls were given it, #1,508 among girls’ names. The 19 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 33% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #13,971 | 13 | #6,627 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,644 | 26 | #4,132 |
| 2023 | 19 | #6,272 | 23 | #4,529 |
| 2022 | 11 | #9,320 | 21 | #4,772 |
| 2021 | 14 | #7,802 | 14 | #6,169 |
| 2020 | 18 | #6,461 | 25 | #4,069 |
| 2019 | 10 | #10,074 | 23 | #4,402 |
| 2018 | 13 | #8,336 | 17 | #5,407 |
| 2017 | 9 | #11,105 | 16 | #5,648 |
| 2016 | 6 | #15,180 | 16 | #5,659 |
Every recorded year (90)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,424 | 13 | #6,494 |
| 2014 | 11 | #9,823 | 14 | #6,134 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,527 | 12 | #6,796 |
| 2012 | 18 | #6,986 | 15 | #5,833 |
| 2011 | 7 | #13,998 | 13 | #6,396 |
| 2010 | under 5 | 15 | #5,874 | |
| 2009 | 11 | #10,292 | 9 | #8,629 |
| 2008 | 10 | #11,167 | 14 | #6,240 |
| 2007 | 19 | #6,942 | 16 | #5,544 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,256 | 8 | #9,107 |
| 2005 | 9 | #11,315 | 7 | #9,584 |
| 2004 | 16 | #7,221 | 9 | #7,846 |
| 2003 | 15 | #7,372 | 11 | #6,467 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,856 | 13 | #5,547 |
| 2001 | 24 | #4,898 | 7 | #8,719 |
| 2000 | 15 | #6,962 | 11 | #6,099 |
| 1999 | 10 | #9,100 | 11 | #5,829 |
| 1998 | 22 | #4,857 | 8 | #7,177 |
| 1997 | 25 | #4,278 | 7 | #7,663 |
| 1996 | 17 | #5,636 | 9 | #6,224 |
| 1995 | 18 | #5,298 | 6 | #8,287 |
| 1994 | 18 | #5,336 | 8 | #6,659 |
| 1993 | 12 | #7,218 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 15 | #6,130 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 24 | #4,254 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 21 | #4,580 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 17 | #5,143 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 25 | #3,743 | 8 | #5,439 |
| 1987 | 22 | #3,907 | 5 | #7,512 |
| 1986 | 24 | #3,588 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 22 | #3,775 | 7 | #5,432 |
| 1984 | 24 | #3,452 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 23 | #3,477 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 38 | #2,507 | 9 | #4,397 |
| 1981 | 39 | #2,464 | 9 | #4,320 |
| 1980 | 34 | #2,715 | 5 | #6,725 |
| 1979 | 39 | #2,407 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 32 | #2,648 | 10 | #3,718 |
| 1977 | 21 | #3,530 | 5 | #6,317 |
| 1976 | 29 | #2,685 | 6 | #5,257 |
| 1975 | 27 | #2,767 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 33 | #2,362 | 8 | #4,004 |
| 1973 | 19 | #3,393 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 27 | #2,627 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 32 | #2,395 | 7 | #4,160 |
| 1970 | 44 | #1,938 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 44 | #1,879 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 38 | #1,953 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 41 | #1,832 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 39 | #1,842 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 38 | #1,874 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 57 | #1,508 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 54 | #1,533 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 39 | #1,841 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 49 | #1,615 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 29 | #2,166 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 24 | #2,368 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 21 | #2,532 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 22 | #2,445 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 20 | #2,570 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 28 | #2,039 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 22 | #2,335 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,364 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 7 | #4,679 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 12 | #3,193 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,509 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 11 | #3,276 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,608 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,681 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,813 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | 9 | #3,256 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 5 | #4,887 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,946 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,918 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,564 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 6 | #4,022 | under 5 | |
| 1933 | 6 | #3,962 | under 5 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 5 | #4,516 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 7 | #3,570 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 5 | #4,635 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Jona a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,277 Americans recorded as Jona, 77% are girls and 23% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Jona: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jona, and how old are they?
2,090 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 2,277 Americans ever recorded as Jona. The median Jona alive today is 42 years old; half are between 19 and 57.
The 2020 Census counted 2,638 people named Jona (1,922 women and girls, 716 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,952 born in the U.S. The Census count is 35% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 22 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 354 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 534 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 406 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 393 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 380 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 176,823 babies since 1880, Jona is the eighth most given (1.3% of them). In 2025 it was given to 19 of their 1,312 babies (1.4%), the fifth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Jona
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Jona and names like it
- Compare Jona and JoannaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sJona peaked in 1964.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jona since 1910.
- The top names of 1964The year the most babies were named Jona.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Jona alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with JMost given first.