Given name & surname

Bonny

“a pretty and charming girl”

In English use, Bonny has a related form in Bonnie. One Scottish interpretation is “a pretty and charming girl.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

In English use, Bonny has a related form in Bonnie. One Scottish interpretation is “a pretty and charming girl.”

Explained through its name family

Where it comes from

In English use, Bonny has a related form in Bonnie. An origin associated with Bonnie is Scottish.

Explained through its name family

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1913. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In English use, Bonny has a related form in Bonnie. The history of Bonnie gives this family its wider 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.

Combines direct and name-family evidence

Bonny through the years

Babies since 1880
6,469
261 boys · 6,208 girls
Most popular year
1958
277 babies
2025
0
Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
Boys Girls
050100150192019401960198020002025Highest share 1958Boys 0.0Girls 0.0
Bonny in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1913–2025, per million births of each sex. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

Boys, girls and both

The balance of boys and girls given this name has shifted over time. Recent births are 0% boys.

Boys Girls
0%50%100%192019401960198020002020
Five-year rolling share of U.S. births. Blank stretches had too few births to read.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 269 in 1958. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 5,523 as a first name in 2020; 659 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.

Bonny’s family of names

In English usage, Bonny has a related form in Bonnie. In English usage, Bonny as a surname has a related form in BONNET.

Walk Bonny’s family in the name graph

BonnyBonnieBonnyeBonnetBonnnieBonneyBony

Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 4

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Across languages 2

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

People named Bonny

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Bonny, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

English · Biblical

Becky

“one who is bound to God”

28RareEasing

>99% girls

Finnish

Jani

“God is gracious”

19Very rareSteady

4% boys · 96% girls

English

Ginny

“one who is chaste; virginal”

31RareRising fast

>99% girls

Royal

Betsy

“God is my oath” · “My God is bountiful”

34RareEasing

>99% girls

English · Nature

Toni

“a flourishing man; from an ancient Roman family”

38RareEasing

8% boys · 92% girls

Literary

Joni

“God is gracious”

42UncommonRising

14% boys · 86% girls

Mythological

Dori

“a gift of God” · “of the ancient Greek tribe, the Dorians”

21RareRising fast

>99% girls

 

Perri

“one who travels; a wanderer”

25RareSteady

>99% girls

Sibling ideas

Names that share Bonny’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Bonny

A sister for Bonny