Lon
Masculine · “noble and ready”
Lon is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 9,836 boys against 20 girls since 1880.
Lon is the back end of Alonzo, which is the Spanish and Italian form of a Visigothic king's name — so a very short American name reaches, in three steps, to the rulers of early medieval Spain.
How old is the name Lon?
Lon was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lon alive today was born around 1952, making them about 73 years old. About 5,500 people named Lon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lon most popular?
Lon peaked in 1880, reaching #192 nationally. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alfons to Lon
The story of Lon
Alfonso was the name of Visigothic and then Castilian and Aragonese kings across seven centuries, and Italian and Spanish produced Alonzo and Alonso from it. American families of the nineteenth century used Alonzo in real numbers, and the clipping Lon followed it into the registers as a legal name in its own right, peaking around 1890. It is also read as a short form of Lonnie and of Alonso's cousin Lorenzo.
Meaningscholars disagree
noble and ready
Through Alonzo and Alfonso, from the Germanic hathu or adal, 'battle' or 'noble', and funs, 'ready' or 'eager'. The first element is disputed between two Gothic words, which is why the readings 'noble and ready' and 'battle-ready' both circulate. The second is secure.
How the name formed
- Alfons
- Alfonso
- Alonzo
- Lon
Related forms: Alonso · Alonzo · Afonso · Alfons
Pronouncing Lon
LON
One syllable, rhyming with 'John'. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Lon
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1947271 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #192reached in 1880
- Change vs 2019
- −16.7%5 in 2022, 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.
Lon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alonso in Spanish — related form
- Alonzo in Italian — related form
- Afonso in Portuguese — related form
- Alfons in German — related form
Lons among us
people named Lon 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
Lon has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Alonzo behind it carries a documented royal history across Spain and Portugal.
- Three letters, one syllable, and never misheard.
- Lonnie and Alonzo are both available at quite different lengths.
- The first element of the parent name is genuinely disputed.
- It is strongly period-coded to the late nineteenth century.
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Lon
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,500 people named Lon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lon in 2025?
- Lon is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Lon with classmates?
- Lon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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