Name Awesome

Tone

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Tone has been given to 99 babies in the U.S. since 1962. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1988, with 7 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 55% girls, 45% boys all-time.

Babies named Tone, 1997

1 in 518,000

Tone over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
0246818801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Tone over time

In 2015, Tone went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19622015

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Tone: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Tone means

Tone has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Tone

A separate documented entry treats Tone as a short form of Anton. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

A separate documented entry treats Tone as a form of Torny. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

Origin, language, and formation

Tone is used in English and Norwegian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Anthony and Torny.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Tone is pronounced /ˈtoʊn/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 54 girls were recorded with the name Tone between 1962 and 1997. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1988; its best national rank was #7,499 in 1962.

In the United States, 45 boys were recorded with the name Tone between 1979 and 2015. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1996; its best national rank was #6,994 in 1979.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Tone?

Tone had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1997, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1997
1 in 518,000
7 of 3,624,676 births
Among girls only
1 in 249,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 1997
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
358,920 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Tone sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1997 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 358,920 children born in 1997 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tone. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tones were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tone was born before 1992 — so the typical Tone is around 33 today.

Median birth year
1992
About 33 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
77.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
90.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
54
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 77.8% of all recorded uses (42).

Is Tone rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1988 (7)
Years since peak
37
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#7,499
1962

Spellings of Tone

Tone is not the most common spelling — Rose is, with 19.1% against Tone's <0.01%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Tone around the world

Where Tone ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • Norway
    1880–2024
    #478
    in 2024

Popularity data from Statistics Norway. SSB data under CC BY 4.0.

Tone by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,499
1962
Peak year
1988
7 that year
First recorded
1962
Last recorded
1997
All-time count
54
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,994
1979
Peak year
1996
7 that year
First recorded
1979
Last recorded
2015
All-time count
45
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Tone

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ToneaRhoneTonyeTonoaTonaeTonjiToniiTonnyaKhioneStoneTongaToneeToniahEmoneTonaToneyShoneTonniaTongiaTonjuaTonniSloneToniciaTonua

Sibling names for Tone

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Tone

Top names of 1988, Tone's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1962Girls' names starting with TNorwegian Girl Names