Tone

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 24 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Tone is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name21K records spelled Tone18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, Brazil, United Kingdom

  Languages: English, Dutch, Western Frisian

  Also written Tone', Toné, T-One, Țone, Tonë

• Portuguese given name15K records spelled Tone9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Peru, United States, Norway

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Toñe, Toné, Tonè, Ţone, Tonê

• Albanian given name2.9K records spelled Tone2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, United States, United Kingdom

  Also written Tonë

• a separate given name2.6K records spelled Tone2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, United States, Sweden, United Kingdom

  Also written Toné

• Croatian given name1.6K records spelled Tone9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Slovenia, United States, Norway

  Languages: Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian

  Also written Тоне

• a separate given name1.1K records spelled Tone4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, India, Slovenia

  Also written Țone, Töne, Toné

59 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Tone is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A different form of Town.

  as a name·Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

• In Swedish, Tone är ett nordiskt namn, en utveckling av det fornvästnordiska Torny (< Þorný ), som är en sammansättning av → Tor och -ny ’ny’. Namnet har använts sedan medeltiden i Norge och har kommit till Sverige därifrån. Kända namnbärare är författaren Tone Schunnesson (f. 1988) och artisten Tone Sekelius (f. 1997).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Irish, (Old-English tun, enclosure—later village). This famous Anglo-Irish name is not on record in Ireland before the sixteenth century. It is mainly associated with Dublin. IF

  as a name·The Surnames of Ireland

• In German, nominative/accusative/genitive plural of Ton

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Dutch, singular present subjunctive of tonen

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 76 years between 1945–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Tone Thiis Schjetneb. 1928NONorwegian sculptor (1928-2015)
• Tone Pavčekb. 1928SISlovenian poet, essayist and translator (1928-2011)
• Tone Vigelandb. 1938NONorwegian jewelry designer (1938–2024)
• Tone Schwarzottb. 1941NONorwegian actress and poet
• Tone Danielsenb. 1946NONorwegian actress (born 1946)
• Tone Norumb. 1965NOSwedish singer
• Tone Lōcb. 1966USAmerican rapper
• Tone Bellb. 1983USAmerican actor
• Tone Damli Aabergeb. 1988NONorwegian singer, songwriter
• Tone Sekeliusb. 1997SESwedish singer and video blogger

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 374 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Tone?

We estimate roughly 18 thousand people bear Tone (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Tone have the most bearers?

We estimate about 14 thousand people bear Tone in Norway, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled tone.

Where is Tone most common?

Tone is densest in Norway, where the national register counts about 1 in 380 people carrying it.

How common is Tone compared with other names?

In Norway, Tone is the 65th most common given name of 38,312 given names recorded there.

Is Tone a male or female name?

Tone is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Tone mean?

Recorded meaning: a tone (sound, colour etc.)