Ron
Ron was given to 24 boys in 2025, #4,360 among boys’ names; 36,432 Americans have been recorded with it since 1919 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 27,000 Americans named Ron and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 62 years old and half are between 54 and 67.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ron by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ron mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ron is “a diminutive of the male given name Ronald.”
Also “a male given name from Hebrew of Hebrew origin, meaning “Song of Joy”.”
Clipping of Ronald.
/ɹɑn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ron?
#4,360 among boys’ names, 2025
Ron fell from #3,016 in 2015 to #4,360 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 20.3 to 14.1 per million.
1,888 babies in 1960, the peak
Ron peaked in 1960, when 1,888 boys were given it, #170 among boys’ names. The 24 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 24 | #4,360 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 31 | #3,671 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 37 | #3,273 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 33 | #3,520 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 35 | #3,345 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 32 | #3,475 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 32 | #3,551 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 53 | #2,466 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 47 | #2,661 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 48 | #2,613 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 39 | #3,016 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 62 | #2,197 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 43 | #2,752 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 59 | #2,230 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 53 | #2,397 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 58 | #2,253 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 63 | #2,160 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 49 | #2,573 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 69 | #2,031 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 92 | #1,592 | 0.04 |
| 2005 | 84 | #1,629 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 74 | #1,723 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 86 | #1,508 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 79 | #1,565 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 88 | #1,420 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 95 | #1,348 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 106 | #1,207 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 103 | #1,199 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 117 | #1,084 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 123 | #1,014 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 127 | #982 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 119 | #1,016 | 0.06 |
| 1993 | 141 | #905 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 137 | #902 | 0.07 |
| 1991 | 155 | #828 | 0.08 |
| 1990 | 191 | #735 | 0.09 |
| 1989 | 185 | #725 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 148 | #775 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 168 | #707 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 186 | #658 | 0.10 |
| 1985 | 178 | #660 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 179 | #646 | 0.10 |
| 1983 | 180 | #640 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 241 | #557 | 0.13 |
| 1981 | 241 | #543 | 0.13 |
| 1980 | 295 | #494 | 0.17 |
| 1979 | 281 | #497 | 0.16 |
| 1978 | 270 | #492 | 0.16 |
| 1977 | 309 | #458 | 0.19 |
| 1976 | 346 | #417 | 0.22 |
| 1975 | 320 | #446 | 0.20 |
| 1974 | 377 | #399 | 0.24 |
| 1973 | 410 | #380 | 0.26 |
| 1972 | 499 | #345 | 0.31 |
| 1971 | 666 | #298 | 0.38 |
| 1970 | 785 | #270 | 0.42 |
| 1969 | 1,003 | #230 | 0.56 |
| 1968 | 819 | #252 | 0.47 |
| 1967 | 841 | #241 | 0.48 |
| 1966 | 940 | #230 | 0.53 |
| 1965 | 1,143 | #213 | 0.61 |
| 1964 | 1,334 | #209 | 0.67 |
| 1963 | 1,592 | #185 | 0.78 |
| 1962 | 1,709 | #178 | 0.83 |
| 1961 | 1,840 | #170 | 0.87 |
| 1960 | 1,888 | #170 | 0.89 |
| 1959 | 1,875 | #166 | 0.88 |
| 1958 | 1,697 | #176 | 0.80 |
| 1957 | 1,282 | #208 | 0.59 |
| 1956 | 763 | #263 | 0.36 |
| 1955 | 501 | #331 | 0.24 |
| 1954 | 405 | #357 | 0.20 |
| 1953 | 349 | #367 | 0.18 |
| 1952 | 277 | #414 | 0.14 |
| 1951 | 287 | #401 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 349 | #359 | 0.19 |
| 1949 | 526 | #294 | 0.30 |
| 1948 | 770 | #232 | 0.44 |
| 1947 | 921 | #210 | 0.50 |
| 1946 | 829 | #206 | 0.51 |
| 1945 | 545 | #244 | 0.40 |
| 1944 | 523 | #256 | 0.38 |
| 1943 | 522 | #265 | 0.37 |
| 1942 | 425 | #293 | 0.31 |
| 1941 | 293 | #336 | 0.24 |
| 1940 | 214 | #389 | 0.18 |
| 1939 | 198 | #406 | 0.18 |
| 1938 | 143 | #485 | 0.13 |
| 1937 | 137 | #488 | 0.13 |
| 1936 | 93 | #604 | 0.09 |
| 1935 | 83 | #657 | 0.08 |
| 1934 | 65 | #769 | 0.06 |
| 1933 | 38 | #1,072 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,417 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 15 | #1,986 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,274 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,202 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,716 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 10 | #2,870 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,111 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 5 | #4,846 | under 0.01 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,086 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ron a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ron has been given almost only to boys: 70 girls in 102 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ron: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ron, and how old are they?
27,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 74% of the 36,432 Americans ever recorded as Ron. The median Ron alive today is 62 years old; half are between 54 and 67.
The 2020 Census counted 74,027 people named Ron (245 women and girls, 73,782 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 29,296 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Ron rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,090 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 13,400 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 8,120 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,560 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,250 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 512 |
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).
Where are babies named Ron born?
The states with the most babies named Ron are California, Michigan and Ohio, with 34% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 6,817 | #2,736 | 2.0× |
| Michigan | 2,259 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 2,082 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 1,931 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Washington | 1,761 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Texas | 1,415 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 1,383 | #1,990 | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 1,060 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Oregon | 1,048 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 966 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Ron is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ron is most over-represented in Washington: since 1919 it was given 2.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ron with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 86,079 babies since 1880, Ron is the most given (42% of them). In 2025 it was given to 24 of their 2,785 babies (<1%), the seventh 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 Ron
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 Ron and names like it
- Compare Ron and RonanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sRon peaked in 1960.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ron since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Ron: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Ron.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ron alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.