Girls' name · peaked in 1942
Bonnie name popularity since 1925
309,678 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Bonnie (99.1% girls, 0.9% boys). Half of them were born in 1951 or earlier, so the typical Bonnie is about 75 years old in 2026. Bonnie peaked in 1942 as the #34 name for girls, and it ranked #396 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 309,678
- Named Bonnie, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- #396
- for girls in 2025 (785 babies)
- Girls / boys
- 99.1% girls
- 306,762 girls · 2,916 boys
- Most popular in
- North Dakota
- 2.16× its national share
Peak year is the year Bonnie made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Bonnie births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1947. Measured as a share of all babies, Bonnie peaked in 1942.
- Steepest fall: Between 1986 and 1991, Bonnie's share of baby girls fell by 52%, from 1 in 1,570 to 1 in 3,270.
- Fastest rise: Between 2016 and 2021, it became 2.1× more common, from 1 in 5,680 baby girls to 1 in 2,720.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Bonnie's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Bonnie.
Decade by decade
Babies named Bonnie in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 13,834 | 372 | – |
| 1930s | 35,803 | 768 | #62 |
| 1940s | 86,886 | 714 | #35 |
| 1950s | 83,013 | 492 | #45 |
| 1960s | 45,088 | 280 | #89 |
| 1970s | 16,673 | 141 | #188 |
| 1980s | 12,099 | 114 | #221 |
| 1990s | 4,422 | 30 | #589 |
| 2000s | 2,059 | 0 | #1,203 |
| 2010s | 3,112 | 0 | #865 |
| 2020–25 | 3,773 | 5 | #396 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
48.9% of babies named Bonnie from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Bonnie is most popular
The index compares Bonnie's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Bonnie.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | 2.16× | 2,100 |
| South Dakota | 2.13× | 2,094 |
| Montana | 2.09× | 1,892 |
| Wyoming | 2.01× | 838 |
| West Virginia | 1.83× | 4,982 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Bonnie and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Bonnie (this page) | 306,762 | 1942 |
| Bonny | 6,093 | 1958 |
| Bonni | 1,412 | 1968 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Bonnie's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Bonnie.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Bonnie (1942).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data