Lonna
Feminine
The doubled n in Lonna is the difference between two vowels. With one n the name would be Lona and the o would be long, as in bone; doubled, it is short, as in bonnet. English has almost no other way of saying which is meant, so the consonant does the work.
How old is the name Lonna?
Lonna first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Lonna alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 2,800 people named Lonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lonna most popular?
Lonna peaked in 1940, reaching #741 nationally. See the whole 1940 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Lona to Lonna
The story of Lonna
One of its possible parents has a precise birthday. Lorna was invented by R. D. Blackmore for a novel published in eighteen sixty-nine, a romance set on Exmoor about a girl raised by outlaws; the book was enormously popular for the following half-century, the name entered use immediately, and it had no existence at all before that. Lonna appears in American records a few decades later, and sits close enough to be a respelling of it, and close enough to Leona and Alona to be either of those. The record does not distinguish. What it does show is a name that rose slowly through the first half of the twentieth century and then stopped.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No single source can be given. The name can be cut from Leona, from Alona or from Lorna, and it can equally be a construction with no parent at all. Different families used it for different reasons.
How the name formed
- Lona
- Lonna
Pronouncing Lonna
LON-uh
Two syllables with the weight at the front, the first with the vowel of on. The single-n spelling gives a long o instead, which is the whole point of the doubling.
Nicknames for Lonna
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
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 194791 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #741reached in 1940
- Change vs 2020
- −25.0%6 in 2022, from 8
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.
Lonnas among us
people named Lonna 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
Lonna 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 doubled consonant removes a genuine ambiguity that the leaner spelling leaves open.
- Five letters, two syllables and nothing that needs explaining.
- It sits comfortably in front of almost any surname.
- Lona, Lonnie and Lorna are near neighbors and will be written instead.
- There is no settled meaning or parentage to pass on.
- It reads clearly as a name of the first half of the twentieth century.
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Lonna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Lonnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Lonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lonna in 2025?
- Lonna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Lonna with classmates?
- Lonna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lonna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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