Adonay
Masculine · “my Lord”
Adonay is a title rather than a name: it is the Hebrew word Jewish tradition says aloud in place of the divine name, which is not pronounced. My Lord, plural in form and singular in sense. Spanish-speaking Protestant families in particular have taken it as a given name over the last century.
How old is the name Adonay?
Adonay first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Adonay is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Adonay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adonay most popular?
Adonay peaked in 2018, reaching #3446 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 1,411 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Adonai to Adonay
The story of Adonay
The convention of saying Adonai in place of the divine name is very old, older than the vowel points that mark it in Hebrew manuscripts, and Greek and Latin bibles followed it by writing Lord instead. It reached ordinary use in Spanish through hymns and through the psalms. Evangelical and Pentecostal families in Latin America began giving it as a name in the twentieth century, alongside Emanuel, Josue and Ezequiel, and Adonay came to American records from there.
Meaning
my Lord
Hebrew Adonai, from adon, lord or master, with a possessive ending. In Jewish practice it is substituted aloud for the four-letter divine name, which is written but not spoken, and that substitution is the whole reason the word is so familiar.
How the name formed
- Adonai
- Adonay
Related forms: אדני · Adonai · Adonai
Pronouncing Adonay
ah-doh-NIE
Three syllables with the stress at the end, the last rhyming with eye. Spanish speakers may say ah-doh-NAY, following the spelling, and both are used.
Nicknames for Adonay
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1989
- Most boys named
- 201832 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3446reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- −16.7%20 in 2025, from 24
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Adonay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אדני in Hebrew — transliteration
- Adonai in English — spelling variant
- Adonai in Portuguese — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Adonays among us
people named Adonay are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Adonay
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Adonay
- #4857
- Adonay on the 2025 chart
- #829
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Adonay went to 20 boys in 2025, but Adonai is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 99, which makes it the 829th most-given boys’ name of the year — 4,028 places above the chart.
- Adonai79
- Adonay20
About 1 boy in 17,253 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 85,404 for Adonay itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Chastin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Adonay's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Chastin climbed just as high around 1989, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Chastin's path sketches the road Adonay is walking now.
Adonay sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Adonay beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adonay in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is documented, weighty and stated in two words.
- It has several short forms available, from Ado to Doni.
- It is instantly recognized in Spanish-speaking religious communities.
- It is a divine title, and some Jewish and Christian readers will find giving it to a child uncomfortable.
- Adonai and Adonay are both in use, so records within a family may differ.
- The final syllable is said two ways, NIE and NAY, and the spelling does not settle it.
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Adonay
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adonays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Adonay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Adonay?
- Adonay is one of 2 recorded spellings. Adonai is the more common one — 79 births in 2025 against 20 for Adonay.
- How popular is the name Adonay in 2025?
- Adonay ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Adonay?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Adonay — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adonay with classmates?
- Adonay will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adonay
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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