Toney
Masculine
Toney is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,416 boys against 194 girls since 1880.
Anthony is the saint you pray to when you have lost your keys. The custom of asking Anthony of Padua to find missing things is one of the most widely practiced pieces of Catholic folk devotion anywhere.
How old is the name Toney?
Toney was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Toney alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 4,200 people named Toney are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Toney most popular?
Toney peaked in 1888, reaching #484 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 10,211 places below that high. See the whole 1888 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Antonius to Toney
The story of Toney
Two Anthonys carry the name. Anthony of Egypt, who died around 356, withdrew into the desert and became the model for Christian monasticism; the Life written about him by Athanasius was a bestseller of late antiquity and effectively invented the genre of saintly biography. Anthony of Padua, who died in 1231, was a Franciscan preacher, and the tradition that he recovers lost property comes from a story about a stolen book of psalms. The second devotion became enormous: the prayer for lost objects is known to Catholics who know nothing else about him, and the name spread through Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland on the strength of it. The Roman family name underneath all of it has resisted explanation for two thousand years.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Toney is a variant spelling of Tony, from Anthony, the English form of the Roman family name Antonius. That name is probably Etruscan and its meaning is genuinely unknown; the connections offered to Greek anthos, a flower, or to Latin words for priceless are both later inventions. The peak of this spelling is 1888.
How the name formed
- Antonius
- Anthony
- Tony
- Toney
Related forms: Tony · Antonio · Antonio
Pronouncing Toney
TOH-nee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Tony and Toney are homophones; the -ey spelling was the nineteenth-century preference.
Nicknames for Toney
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
- 1961187 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #484reached in 1888
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%6 in 2025, 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.
Toney in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tony in English — spelling variant
- Antonio in Italian — same name
- Antonio in Spanish — same name
Toneys among us
people named Toney are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Toney
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Toney 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
Toney beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Toney in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Anthony is available as a formal version.
- Two syllables and five letters, nothing silent.
- The name is used in every European language.
- Tony is the standard spelling by a wide margin.
- The word tony is also an American adjective meaning stylish.
- Its 1888 peak places it at the start of the records.
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What they receive
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Toney
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Toneys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Toney are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Toney in 2025?
- Toney ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Toney?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Toney — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Toney with classmates?
- Toney will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Toney
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695 · Garnet#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Toney? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Toney and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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