Yona
- Gender
- Mostly girls
- Say it
- YOH-nah
- Origin
- Hebrew
- UK rank, 2025
- #2,344 for girls
- US rank, 2025
- #5,859 for boys
Yona is a name of Hebrew origin, meaning “dove”. In 2025 it ranked 2,344th for girls in the UK (12 babies) and 5,859th for boys in the US (15 babies).
What does Yona mean?
Hebrew: Hebrew form of Jonah
“dove”
The Hebrew form of Jonah, the prophet swallowed by a great fish; yonah means dove.
Is Yona a girl's or a boy's name?
In recent years, Yona has been given to girls and boys, mostly girls. In 2025, it was given to 12 girls in the UK and 18 girls and 15 boys in the US.
How popular is Yona in the UK?
- Rank in 2025
- 2,344th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 12 about 1 in 23,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Newly popular new in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 12 girls in the UK were named Yona, making it the 2,344th most popular name for girls.
It has been given to more girls each year for the last 4 years. 2025 had the most girls named Yona of any year since it first appeared, in 2002.
Among girls in 2025, it was 2,276th in England and Wales.
Yona in the UK, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 | #2,344 |
| 2024 | 7 | #3,381 |
| 2023 | 5 | #4,251 |
| 2022 | 4 | #4,870 |
| 2021 | 0 | – |
| 2020 | 0 | – |
| 2019 | 0 | – |
| 2018 | 3 | #5,896 |
| 2017 | 0 | – |
| 2016 | 0 | – |
| 2015 | 0 | – |
| 2014 | 0 | – |
| 2013 | 4 | #4,953 |
| 2012 | 0 | – |
| 2011 | 0 | – |
| 2010 | 1 | #7,520 |
| 2009 | 0 | – |
| 2008 | 0 | – |
| 2007 | 0 | – |
| 2006 | 3 | #5,259 |
| 2005 | 0 | – |
| 2004 | 0 | – |
| 2003 | 0 | – |
| 2002 | 3 | #4,284 |
How popular is Yona in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 5,859th among boys
- Babies in 2025
- 15 about 1 in 110,000 boys
- Five-year trend
- Rising up 31% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 boys
In 2025, 15 boys in the US were named Yona, making it the 5,859th most popular name for boys. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 4,851st. Its busiest year was 2024, with 31 boys. It first appears in the records in 1982. 18 girls were also named Yona in 2025 (6,324th for girls).
2025 had fewer boys named Yona than any year since 2015.
Half of all the boys named Yona in the US since 1880 were born between 2006 and 2020, the years shaded on the chart below.
In 2025, 57 boys in the US were given Yona or a name that sounds the same. With every name's spellings counted this way, that ranks #2,037, up from #5,859 for this spelling alone.
- Yonah 42
- Yona 15
In 2025, 55% of the babies named Yona in the US were girls.
Yona in the US, year by year
| Year | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15 | #5,859 |
| 2024 | 31 | #3,603 |
| 2023 | 26 | #4,109 |
| 2022 | 22 | #4,566 |
| 2021 | 21 | #4,624 |
| 2020 | 19 | #4,851 |
| 2019 | 16 | #5,551 |
| 2018 | 20 | #4,735 |
| 2017 | 27 | #3,885 |
| 2016 | 17 | #5,314 |
| 2015 | 8 | #8,739 |
| 2014 | 17 | #5,248 |
| 2013 | 16 | #5,400 |
| 2012 | 28 | #3,711 |
| 2011 | 18 | #4,981 |
| 2010 | 18 | #5,044 |
| 2009 | 14 | #6,091 |
| 2008 | 12 | #6,758 |
| 2007 | 16 | #5,431 |
| 2006 | 10 | #7,422 |
| 2005 | 14 | #5,572 |
| 2004 | 11 | #6,514 |
| 2003 | 10 | #6,708 |
| 2002 | 9 | #7,048 |
| 2001 | 11 | #6,006 |
| 2000 | 6 | #9,104 |
| 1999 | 5 | #9,905 |
| 1998 | 8 | #6,837 |
| 1997 | 10 | #5,636 |
| 1996 | 0 | – |
| 1995 | 0 | – |
| 1994 | 0 | – |
| 1993 | 5 | #8,693 |
| 1992 | 6 | #7,414 |
| 1991 | 0 | – |
| 1990 | 0 | – |
| 1989 | 0 | – |
| 1988 | 5 | #7,264 |
| 1987 | 0 | – |
| 1986 | 6 | #5,920 |
| 1985 | 0 | – |
| 1984 | 0 | – |
| 1983 | 0 | – |
| 1982 | 5 | #6,383 |
Names like Yona
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Yumna, Minha, Yuna, Yusra, Ava, Mika, Lyra, Isla, Dakota, Eliana, Mila, Luna
Other spellings of Yona
Names related to Yona
More Hebrew names
Noah, Isabella, Elijah, James, Jack, Mia, Jude, Ezra, Benjamin, Isaac, Jacob, Ethan, Daniel, Samuel, Elias, Mateo
Sources
Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland), Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) and Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Yona: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/yona, updated 20 October 2026.