Bonifacio
Masculine · “doer of good”
Bonifacio is Latin for a doer of good, and the missionary who made it famous is remembered for an act of deliberate provocation. He walked up to a tree that a German people held sacred, cut it down in front of them, waited to see whether anything happened to him, and then built a chapel out of the timber. The Filipino revolutionary who carried the name was executed by the revolution he founded.
How old is the name Bonifacio?
Bonifacio first appears in US birth records in 1900 — 125 years ago. The typical Bonifacio alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 900 people named Bonifacio are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bonifacio most popular?
Bonifacio peaked in 1900, reaching #1162 nationally. See the whole 1900 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Latin name meaning a doer of good to Bonifacio
The story of Bonifacio
The oak belonged to the thunder god and the local people held that anyone who touched it would be struck down. The missionary, an Englishman from Devon working in what is now Hesse, took an axe to it in front of a crowd that had come to watch him die. He survived, the tree came down, and he had a chapel built from its wood on the spot. Whether or not the story is exactly true, it is the kind of demonstration that mission strategy of the period actually used: not argument but a public test of whose god could do more. Eleven centuries later a Filipino warehouse clerk with the same name founded a secret revolutionary society against Spanish rule, led the rising that followed, and was tried and shot by a rival faction within the movement he had started.
Meaning
doer of good
Two Latin elements, one meaning good and one from the verb to do or make, and the reading is settled. The name was already in use among Romans before it was a Christian one. A widespread alternative gloss connects it to good fate instead, which comes from a medieval respelling rather than from the original word, and the doing rather than the fate is the better-supported reading.
How the name formed
- A Latin name meaning a doer of good
- An English missionary who took it in religion
- Bonifacio across Italy, Spain and Portugal
- Carried into the Philippines with Spanish rule
Related forms: Bonifacio · Bonifacio · Boniface · Bonifatius
Pronouncing Bonifacio
boh-nee-FAH-syoh
Four syllables with the stress on the third. Italian says the ci as a ch sound, giving boh-nee-FAH-choh, which is a noticeably different name from the Spanish one written with identical letters.
Nicknames for Bonifacio
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
- 1900
- Most boys named
- 193035 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1162reached in 1900
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%7 in 2024, from 7
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.
Bonifacio in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bonifacio in Italian — same name
- Bonifacio in Spanish — same name
- Boniface in English — same name
- Bonifatius in German — same name
Bonifacios among us
people named Bonifacio are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Bonifacio sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has a documented Latin meaning and an unbroken record from the Roman period.
- It is used across Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Filipino families without alteration.
- The two historical bearers are both genuinely worth telling a child about.
- Four syllables will be cut to two by everybody outside the family.
- The Italian and Spanish pronunciations differ in the middle, and both are correct.
- It is very rare in American use and will need spelling out constantly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Bonifacio to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Bonifacio? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Bonifacio
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Bonifacios are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Bonifacio are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bonifacio in 2025?
- Bonifacio is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Bonifacio with classmates?
- Bonifacio will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bonifacio? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bonifacio and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle