Given name & surname
Bonnie
“a pretty and charming girl”
Bonnie began with a Scottish word for something fine or pretty and developed a naming history of its own.
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Scottish interpretation is “a pretty and charming girl.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Scottish.
How it developed
Bonnie is an affectionate form of Bonita.
The story
The nickname Bonnie appears in Gone with the Wind as the familiar name of Scarlett O’Hara’s daughter, whose full name is Eugenie Victoria. The film may have helped the name spread; its use as a given name was especially associated with the United States rather than Scotland.
Bonnie through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 332,712
- 4,037 boys · 328,675 girls
- Most popular year
- 1947
- 10,285 babies
- 2025
- 785
- #396 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +59%
- Rising fast
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 785 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 396 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 58.3% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 10,214 in 1947. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (113). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 219,134 as a first name in 2020; 665 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Bonnie’s family of names
Bonnie is an affectionate form of Bonita. In English usage, Bonnie has a related form in Bonny. Bonnie has a related form in Bonita.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 13
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Bennydiminutive · English
- Bonnibelvariant
- Bonitavariant
- Bonnibellevariant
- Bonnyvariant · English
- Bonneevariant
- Bonneyvariant
- Bonnivariant
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Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 3
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Bonnie
- Bonnie TylerWelsh singer (1951–2026)
- Bonnie WrightBritish actress and filmmakerborn 1991
- Bonnie HuntAmerican actress and comedianborn 1961
- Bonnie RaittAmerican musician (born 1949)
- Bonnie BlairAmerican speed skaterborn 1964
- Bonnie BedeliaAmerican actress (born 1948)born 1946
- Bonnie J. DunbarAmerican engineer and astronautborn 1949
- Bonnie SomervilleAmerican actress (born 1974)
- Bonnie AaronsAmerican actressborn 1960
Characters named Bonnie: Bonnie Bennett (The Vampire Diaries television series).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Bonnie, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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—
Mctague
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Mctighe
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Heeney
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Meneely
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—