Devona
Feminine · “of the Dumnonii”
Devon is one of only two English counties named after the people who lived there before the English arrived. The Dumnonii held the south-west, the Romans wrote their name down, and it survived the Saxon conquest attached to the ground rather than to anybody in particular.
How old is the name Devona?
Devona first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Devona alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 2,200 people named Devona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Devona most popular?
Devona peaked in 1970, reaching #1182 nationally. See the whole 1970 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dumnonii to Devona
The story of Devona
England is covered in Saxon place names, and the counties are mostly named for their invaders: Essex, Sussex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk all describe where the incomers settled. Two counties carry the name of the people already there — Devon from the Dumnonii and Kent from the Cantiaci — and both are in corners where the old population held on longest. That makes the name older than English by a considerable margin. Devona adds the vowel that American naming used to turn a word into a woman's name, and the record has it from early in the twentieth century.
Meaning
of the Dumnonii
The county takes its name from a British tribe whose own name is generally read as something about depth or the deep — possibly a reference to mining. The added vowel is an American ending and carries no sense.
How the name formed
- Dumnonii
- Devon
- Devona
Pronouncing Devona
duh-VOH-nuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The county is said DEV-un, front-weighted, which the added vowel changes entirely.
Nicknames for Devona
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 197196 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1182reached in 1970
- Change vs 2007
- 0.0%5 in 2014, 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.
Devonas among us
people named Devona 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
Devona 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
- Every sound in it is easy in English and the spelling follows the sound.
- The place behind it is real, mapped and older than the English language.
- The stress in the middle gives it a lift most English names of its length do not have.
- Devona, Davonna and Devonna are near neighbors and will be confused.
- The county is said quite differently, so the connection is not obvious aloud.
- It reads clearly as a name of the middle of the twentieth century.
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Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Devonas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,200 people named Devona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Devona in 2025?
- Devona is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Devona with classmates?
- Devona will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Devona? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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