Bonnie
Masculine · “pretty”
Bonnie is given to girls far more often — 328,675 girls against 4,037 boys since 1880. See Bonnie as a girl name
Bonnie is a Scots adjective that got up and walked off as a name. It means good-looking, and Scotland has used it as a description for centuries. What made it an American name was a novel: the child in Gone with the Wind is christened Eugenie Victoria and called Bonnie by everybody, and the country picked up the habit.
How old is the name Bonnie?
Bonnie first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Bonnie alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 1,300 people named Bonnie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bonnie most popular?
Bonnie peaked in 1905, reaching #463 nationally. See the whole 1905 chart.
Where it comes from
From bon to Bonnie
The story of Bonnie
Margaret Mitchell's novel appeared in 1936, and in it Rhett Butler's daughter is given a formal name nobody uses and a nickname everybody does. Within a few years American girls were being christened Bonnie outright, with no formal name behind it, which is the reverse of how the name works in Scotland. There it has usually been a way of addressing a Bonita, an Elizabeth or a Marion rather than a name on its own; in America it went straight onto the certificate. The word itself is older than either use, borrowed into Scots from French, and it has stayed in the language while the name has come and gone.
Meaning
pretty, fine, good-looking
The Scots word, still in everyday use in Scotland, where a bonnie day and a bonnie lass are ordinary phrases rather than quaint ones.
How the name formed
- bon
- bonnie
- Bonnie
Related forms: Bonita · Bonne
Pronouncing Bonnie
BON-ee
Two syllables, weight at the front, the first with the vowel of on. Said the same way in Scotland, America and England, which is rare.
Nicknames for Bonnie
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 193494 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #463reached in 1905
- Change vs 1993
- 0.0%5 in 2023, from 5
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.
Bonnie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bonita in Spanish — related form
- Bonne in French — related form
Bonnies among us
people named Bonnie 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
Bonnie 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 is spelled as it sounds and needs no explanation in any English-speaking country.
- It also charts in England, Wales and Scotland, so it travels without becoming strange.
- It works as a full name and as a nickname for Bonita or Yvonne, which gives a family two ways to use it.
- The word behind it is still living Scots rather than a dead root, so the meaning can be shown rather than explained.
- It is closely tied to one novel and one film for anyone over a certain age.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
- Bonnie and Clyde is the other association, and it is not going anywhere.
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Bonnie
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Bonnies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Bonnie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bonnie in 2025?
- Bonnie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Bonnie with classmates?
- Bonnie 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 Bonnie? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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