Buena
Feminine · “good”
Buena Vista was a battle before it was a name. American forces held a mountain pass in northern Mexico against a much larger army in 1847, the news reached the United States as a triumph, and the phrase went onto towns, streets, hotels and daughters for the rest of the century.
How old is the name Buena?
Buena first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Buena alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. About 100 people named Buena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Buena most popular?
Buena peaked in 1889, reaching #657 nationally. See the whole 1889 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Spanish phrase meaning good view to Buena
The story of Buena
The battle itself was closer than the reports suggested and the American position was nearly lost twice. What mattered afterwards was the politics: the commanding general became president two years later almost entirely on the strength of it. The place name spread across the whole country — there are Buena Vistas in more than half the states — and it turns up as a woman's name in the same decades, which is a good example of how a piece of military news becomes a piece of ordinary vocabulary within a generation.
Meaning
good
The Spanish adjective is as plain as a word can be, and the phrase means good view. The name in the American record is far likelier to come from the battle and the place names it produced than from any Spanish-speaking family's use of the adjective, since it peaks in exactly the decades when the war generation were naming children.
How the name formed
- a Spanish phrase meaning good view
- a battle in northern Mexico in 1847
- the phrase spreads across American place names
- Buena given as a woman's name from the 1880s
- out of use by the middle of the twentieth century
Related forms: Buena · Buona
Pronouncing Buena
BWAY-nuh
Two syllables in Spanish, with the u and e running together. American families regularly give it three, boo-EH-nuh, which no Spanish speaker would.
Nicknames for Buena
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
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 191832 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #657reached in 1889
- Change vs 1958
- −16.7%5 in 1959, from 6
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.
Buena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Buena in Spanish — same name
- Buona in Italian — related form
Buenas among us
people named Buena 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
Buena 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
- The meaning is as plain and as favorable as a meaning can be.
- It is short and read correctly by any Spanish speaker.
- It has a documented moment of arrival, which few names of its period do.
- English speakers will add a syllable that is not there.
- The name commemorates a war of conquest, which is worth knowing.
- It has been out of use for three generations.
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What they receive
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Buena
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Buenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Buena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Buena in 2025?
- Buena is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Buena with classmates?
- Buena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Buena? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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