Stoney
Masculine · “of stony ground”
Stoney is given to both — 3,092 boys and 168 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Stoney is the English word with an affectionate ending, and it began as a nickname — for someone who lived by stony ground, or worked it, or had a certain hardness about him. It has real mid-century American history as a given name.
How old is the name Stoney?
Stoney first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Stoney alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 2,700 people named Stoney are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Stoney most popular?
Stoney peaked in 1963, reaching #498 nationally. Today it ranks #3240, 2,742 places below that high. See the whole 1963 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From stan to Stoney
The story of Stoney
English surnames drawn from landscape are among the oldest, and Stone, Stoner and Stoney all belong to that group — a family named for where they were rather than what they did. The -ey ending gave it the shape of a nickname, and American usage took it up in that spirit, particularly in the South and the West through the middle of the twentieth century. It appears in the records steadily through those decades and quietly since.
Meaning
of stony ground
From Old English stan, a stone, with the adjectival ending; as a byname it described the land a person lived on or worked before it described the person.
How the name formed
- stan
- Stoney
Related forms: Stony · Stone
Pronouncing Stoney
STOH-nee
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Stoney
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
- 1922
- Most boys named
- 1964109 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #498reached in 1963
- Change vs 2023
- +20.0%36 in 2025, from 30
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.
Stoney in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Stony in English — spelling variant
- Stone in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Stoneys among us
people named Stoney are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was named Stoney
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 Jere test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Stoney's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jere climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jere's path sketches the road Stoney is walking now.
Stoney 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 Stoney is headed
Stoney looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 31% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Stoney beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Stoney in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An ordinary English word, so nobody has to be taught to say or spell it.
- Genuine mid-century American history as a given name, not a recent invention.
- Stone stands behind it as a plainer adult form.
- The word has a well-known slang sense in American English that will follow him.
- The -ey ending reads as a nickname, which may matter on a formal document.
- Stoney and Stony are both used and neither is standard.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Stoney to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Stoney? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Stoney
Masculine · #3240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Stoneys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Stoney are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Stoney in 2025?
- Stoney ranks #3240 among US boy names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Stoney?
- About 1 in every 47,447 US boys born in 2025 was named Stoney — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Stoney with classmates?
- Stoney will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Stoney
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenio#3240 · Pace#3240 · Dany#3240 · Rasheed#3240 · Abdirahman#3240 · Mykah#3240 · Edric#3240 · Lowell#3240
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Stoney? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Stoney and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle