Devonna
Feminine · “from Devon”
Devonna is an American build. Devon — an English county long before it was anyone's name — takes the -onna ending that mid-century American naming used to turn short names into long ones. It comes from the same workshop as LaVonna, Davonna and Vonda, and it sounds like all of them: the weight in the middle, the ending soft.
How old is the name Devonna?
Devonna first appears in US birth records in 1929 — 96 years ago. The typical Devonna alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 1,600 people named Devonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Devonna most popular?
Devonna peaked in 1969, reaching #1835 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 13,107 places below that high. See the whole 1969 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dumnonia to Devonna
The story of Devonna
Devon reached American given names the way most English county names did: as a place, then a surname, then a first name available to either sex. What happened next is particular to the United States. Through the middle of the twentieth century a whole family of names was assembled around the -von- element — LaVon, DeVon, Vonda, Yvonna — with prefixes and endings swapped freely, and Devonna belongs squarely inside it. That family is why the name sounds instantly familiar to anyone who grew up hearing it, and instantly placeable to anyone who did not. The English county kept its spelling and lent nothing else; everything after the first syllable was decided in America.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Devon, the English county
The name inherits its sense rather than owning one. Devon takes its name from the Dumnonii, the Celtic people whose territory the Romans called Dumnonia, and what the tribal name itself meant is not settled: it is usually connected to a Celtic root for deep, and read either as the deep valleys or as the deep workings of the tin mines. Neither reading is proven. The -onna ending carries no meaning at all — it is a sound, not a word.
How the name formed
- Dumnonia
- Devon
- Devonna
Pronouncing Devonna
duh-VON-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle: duh-VON-uh. The first vowel almost disappears. Devonne, with the weight at the end, is a different name on the page and a different name in the mouth.
Nicknames for Devonna
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
- 1929
- Most girls named
- 199353 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1835reached in 1969
- Change vs 2021
- 0.0%5 in 2025, 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.
Devonnas among us
people named Devonna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Devonna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sherra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Devonna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sherra climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sherra's path sketches the road Devonna is walking now.
Devonna 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
Devonna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Devonna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The short forms are already built in: Dev at one end, Vonnie in the middle, Donna at the other.
- It reads correctly at first sight for anyone who has met Devon, which is very nearly everyone.
- It sits inside a recognized family of American names without being any of them.
- The -onna ending dates the name. It belongs audibly to one stretch of the twentieth century rather than to no particular time.
- Devon, Devona and Devonne will all be offered back on forms and in email, and the correction never quite stops.
- Hearing it is not enough to write it, because the ending is the part that varies and the part nobody guesses.
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What they receive
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Devonna
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Devonnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Devonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Devonna in 2025?
- Devonna ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Devonna?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Devonna — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Devonna with classmates?
- Devonna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Devonna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Devonna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Devonna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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