Ramona
Feminine · “protecting counsel”
Ramona is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 70,874 girls against 249 boys since 1880.
Ramona is the Spanish feminine of Ramón, and it has been quietly at work in American records for well over a century without ever disappearing. A novel of that title, published in 1884 and set in Southern California, sent the name across the state and into its place names; a hit song and film in the 1920s carried it further; a beloved series of children's books later handed it to a whole generation of readers. Three syllables, all of them open, with the stress landing on the middle one.
How old is the name Ramona?
Ramona first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Ramona alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 46,000 people named Ramona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ramona most popular?
Ramona peaked in 1928, reaching #117 nationally. Today it ranks #733, 616 places below that high. See the whole 1928 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Raginmund to Ramona
The story of Ramona
The root is Germanic: Raginmund, built from words for counsel and protection, carried into Spain and southern France by Visigothic and Frankish speakers. In Spanish it wore down to Ramón, and Ramona was formed from it as the feminine — a pattern Spanish uses freely. English speakers met it largely through Southern California, where an 1884 novel called Ramona became one of the most widely read American books of its century and attached the name to ranchos, streets and a long-running outdoor pageant. It has stayed in American use ever since, reinforced in the twentieth century by a popular song of the same title and by a series of children's books about a girl named Ramona Quimby.
Meaning
protecting counsel, from Germanic elements meaning advice and protection
The parts are ragin, 'counsel, advice', and mund, 'protection' — the same pair behind Raymond.
How the name formed
- Raginmund
- Raimund
- Ramón
- Ramona
Related forms: Ramona · Ramona · Ramona · Raimonda · Raymonde · Raimunde
Pronouncing Ramona
ruh-MOH-nuh
Stress on the middle syllable. In Spanish it is rah-MOH-nah, with a clearer first vowel and a tapped r — both versions are correct depending on which language the family is speaking.
Nicknames for Ramona
High
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
- 1881
- Most girls named
- 19292,036 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #117reached in 1928
- Change vs 2022
- +3.3%373 in 2025, from 361
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.
Ramona in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ramona in Spanish — same name
- Ramona in Catalan — same name
- Ramona in Romanian — same name
- Raimonda in Italian — related form
- Raymonde in French — related form
- Raimunde in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Ramonas among us
people named Ramona are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,309 born in 2025 was named Ramona
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 Verna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ramona's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Verna climbed just as high around 1906, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Verna's path sketches the road Ramona is walking now.
Ramona 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
Where Ramona is headed
Ramona should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ramona beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ramona in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on sight by most English speakers, with no competing variants to explain.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Catalan and Romanian — useful in a bilingual family.
- An unbroken run in American records going back to the nineteenth century, so it has never needed reintroducing.
- Several long-established short forms — Mona, Romy, Ro — already in real use rather than invented on the spot.
- Strongest in California, Texas and New York, where it is familiar to plenty of ears.
- The children's books about Ramona Quimby are still widely read, so a child may meet her own name in a classroom read-aloud — often a delight, occasionally the source of a teasing nickname from the title Ramona the Pest.
- It is currently far more common among older generations than among children, which means a Ramona today will likely be the only one in her school and may be told the name belonged to someone's aunt.
- People who know the name will spell it fine; people who don't sometimes reach for Romona or Ramonda, so expect an occasional correction.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ramona to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ramona
Feminine · #733 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ramonas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 46,000 people named Ramona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ramona in 2025?
- Ramona ranks #733 among US girl names in 2025, with 373 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ramona?
- About 1 in every 4,309 US girls born in 2025 was named Ramona — 373 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ramona with classmates?
- Ramona will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ramona
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Taytum#732 · Persephone#734 · Laurel#734 · Abby#731 · Iliana#730 · Monica#736 · Kenzie#736 · Kathryn#729
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ramona? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ramona and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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