Bonnie is a Scottish feminine given name. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (handsome, pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That is in turn derived from the Latin word "bonus" (good). The name can also be used as a pet form of Bonita.
Usage The name has been in use, primarily in the Anglosphere, since the 1800s. It has been ranked among the 50 most popular names for newborn girls in the United Kingdom since 2020 and had been rising in popularity for British girls since the 1990s. It was among the 1,000 most used names for newborn girls in the United States between 1880 and 2003, reaching the height of popularity between 1928 and 1966, when it was ranked among the 100 most popular names for newborn American girls. It was also ranked among the 1,000 most popular names for newborn American boys between 1884 and 1953. The name then declined in popularity but has again risen in usage for girls in the United States in recent years and has been ranked among the 1,000 most popular names for newborn girls there since 2014. It has also been among the top 100 names for girls in Australia since 2014, in New Zealand since 2021, and in Sweden since 2019. In Canada, the name was among the 100 most popular names for girls between 1940 and 1973, but has since declined in usage. The name is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean or Bonnie Dundee about John Graham, 7th Laird of Claverhouse.
Spelling variants in use include Bonney, Bonni and Bonny. Elaborations of the name such as Bonnibel are also used. Other related names, also containing the word element bon, meaning good or attractive in various languages, include the French Bonne, the Italian Bona and the Spanish Bonita. Some related given names or surnames include Bonaccorso, Bonaparte, Bonaventura, Bonaventure, Boniface, Bonilla, and Bueno.
The increase in usage of the name coincides with its use for characters in movie and television productions. It was the nickname used for Bonnie Blue Butler, the young daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara in Margaret Mitchell’s 1935 novel Gone with the Wind and its 1939 film adaptation, because the child's eyes were said to be “as blue as the bonnie blue flag.” The name gained some notoriety via bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde made about the couple. The name was later used for Bonnie Bennett, a character in the television series The Vampire Diaries, which aired from 2009 to 2017, and for Bonnie Anderson, the toddler who inherits Andy's toys, in the 2010 film Toy Story 3 and the 2019 sequel Toy Story 4.
People named Bonnie
Women
Bonnie Aarons (born 1960), American actress Bonnie Ammaq, Canadian director and actress Bonnie Anderson (Episcopalian), American religious leader Bonnie Angelo (1924–2017), American journalist and author Bonnie Arnold, American film producer Bonnie August (1947–2003), American fashion designer Bonnie Averbach (1933–2019), American actuary, mathematician, and author Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, American academic Bonnie Banane (born 1987), French alternative pop singer Bonnie Bannon (1913–1989), American actress, dancer, and model Bonnie Bartel, American geneticist and plant biologist Bonnie Bartlett (born 1929), American actress Bonnie Bassler (born 1962), American molecular biologist Bipasha Basu (born 1979), Indian actress, sometimes informally referred to as Bonnie Bonnie Baxter (born 1946), American artist Bonnie Beecher (born 1941), American activist and retired actress Bonnie Bedelia (born 1948), American actress Bonnie Berger (born c. 1964 or 1965), American mathematician and computer scientist Bonnie Bergin (born 1945), American canine researcher Bonnie Bernstein (born 1970), American sportscaster Bonnie Bianco (born 1963), American singer and actress Bonnie Bird (1914–1995), American modern dancer and dance educator Bonnie Bishop, American country-rock singer-songwriter Bonnie J. Blackburn (born 1939), American musicologist Bonnie Blair (born 1964), American Olympic speed skater Bonnie Blue (born 1999), stage name of English pornographic actress and OnlyFans content creator Tia Billinger Bonnie Bo (born 1982), Chinese author and screenwriter Bonnie Bonnell (1905–1964), American entertainer Bonnie Bowman, Canadian novelist Bonnie Bracey, American teacher and technology consultant Bonnie Bramlett (born 1944), American singer and sometime actress Bonnie Brawner (born 1988), American Paralympic volleyball player Bonnie Bremser (born 1939), American Beat writer Bonnie Brennan (born c. 1973), American auction-house executive Bonnie Briggs (c. 1952 or 1953–2017), Canadian affordable housing advocate and poet Bonnie Brinton, American speech language pathologist Bonnie Broel, American fashion designer Bonnie Brooks (born 1953), Canadian department store executive Bonnie Bruckheimer (born 1944), American film and television producer Bonnie Bryant (golfer) (born 1943), American professional golfer Bonnie Bryant (born 1946), American author Bonnie Buchanan, academic and author Bonnie A. Bulla, American judge Bonnie Bullough (1927–1996), American sexologist, nurse, and author Bonnie Buratti (born 1952), American planetary scientist Bonnie Burnard (1945–2017), Canadian short story writer and novelist Bonnie Burnham, American art historian Bonnie Burroughs, American film and television actress Bonnie Burstow (1945–2020), Canadian psychotherapist Bonnie Burton (born 1972), American author, journalist, comedian, actress, and show host Bonnie Campbell (politician) (born 1948), American attorney and politician Bonnie Jo Campbell (born 1962), American novelist and short story writer Bonnie Canino (born 1962), American boxer and kickboxer Bonnie Carroll, American army widow and activist Bonnie Cashin (1908–2000), American fashion designer Bonnie Castillo (born 1960), American nurse labor leader Bonnie A. Charpentier, American chemist Bonnie Chau, American author Bonnie Christensen (1951–2015), American author and illustrator Bonnie Clutter (1914–1959), American murder victim Bonnie Collura (born 1970), American artist Bonnie R. Cohen (born 1942), American government official Bonnie Comley, American theatre producer Bonnie Ethel Cone (1907–2003), American educator and founder of University of North Carolina at Charlotte Bonnie Consolo (1938–2005), American motivational speaker Bonnie H. Cordon (born 1964), American church leader Bonnie Costello (born 1950), American literary scholar Bonnie Crombie (born 1960), Canadian politician, formerly Member of the Canadian Parliament Bonnie Curtis (born 1966), American film producer Bonnie Dasse (born 1959), retired American track and field athlete Bonnie Davis (1920–1976), American R&B singer Bonnie Dennison, American actress Bonnie Devine (born 1952), Indigenous Canadian artist Bonnie Thornton Dill (born 1944), American feminist academic Bonnie Dobson (born 1940), Canadian folk music songwriter, singer, and guitarist Bonnie Dorr, American computer scientist Bonnie Dumanis, American lawyer Bonnie Dunbar (born 1949), retired American astronaut Bonnie Duran, American public health researcher Bonnie Elliott, Australian cinematographer Bonnie Erbé (born 1954), American journalist and television host Bonnie Erickson (born 1941), American costume designer Bonnie Ferri, American electrical engineer and academic administrator Bonnie Lynn Fields (1944–2012), American actress and Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club Bonnie Fleming, American physicist Bonnie Franklin (1944–2013), American actress Bonnie Fuller (born 1956), Canadian media executive Bonnie Gadusek (born 1963), retired American professional tennis player Bonnie Gallanter, American music manager Bonnie Garcia (born 1962), American politician Bonnie Garland (died 1977), American murder victim Bonnie Garmus (born 1957), American author Boronia Lucy "Bonnie" Giles (1909–1978), Australian journalist and advice columnist Bonnie S. Glaser, American foreign policy analyst Bonnie Glick, American diplomat Bonnie Gold (born 1948), American mathematician Bonnie Gordon (artist) (born 1941), American artist Bonnie Gordon (born 1986), American actress and parody musician Bonnie L. Green, American psychiatrist Bonnie Greer (1948–2026), American-British playwright, novelist and critic Bonnie Gritton, American classical pianist Bonnie Urquhart Gruenberg (born 1963), American photographer, author, artist, and certified nurse-midwife Bonnie Guitar (1923–2019), American country-pop singer Bonnie Hammer (born 1950), American network and studio executive Bonnie Hart, Australian artist, film maker, and intersex human rights activist Bonnie Hayes, American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer Bonnie HeavyRunner (died 1997), American academic Bonnie Henrickson (born 1963), American women's college basketball coach Bonnie Henry (born 1965/66), Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia Bonnie Hickey, Canadian politician Bonnie Honig (born 1959), American political theorist Bonnie Hunt (born 1961), American comedian, actress, director, producer, writer, host, and voice artist Bonnie Huy (1935–2013), American politician Bonnie Jenkins, American diplomat Bonnie L. Jensen (1938–2024), American missionary and international relations specialist Bonnie E. John (born 1955), American cognitive psychologist Bonnie Judd, Canadian animal trainer Bonnie S. Klapper, American lawyer Bonnie Sherr Klein (born 1941), American feminist filmmaker, author and disability rights activist Bonnie Koloc (born 1944), American folk music singer-songwriter, actress, and artist Bonnie Koppell, American rabbi Bonnie Korte, American judoka Bonnie Korzeniowski (1941–2019), Canadian politician Bonnie-Jill Laflin (born 1976), American actress, model, television personality and sportscaster Bonnie Langford (born 1964), British actress, dancer and entertainer Bonnie Law (1968–2016), Hong Kong actress and singer Bonnie Lee (1931–2006), American Chicago blues singer Bonnie Leman (1926–2010), American writer, teacher, and historian best known for founding and running Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Bonnie Titcomb Lewis, American politician Bonnie Litwiller (1937–2012), American mathematics educator Bonnie Loo (born 1994), Singapore-based Malaysian singer-songwriter and actress Bonnie Lou (1924–2015), American rock and roll and country music singer Bonnie Low-Kramen (born 1957), American author, speaker, teacher, and workplace activist Bonnie Lowenthal (born 1940), American politician Bonnie Lyons (born 1944), American writer and academic Bonnie Lysyk, Canadian government official Bonnie Lythgoe (born 1949), former British dancer, theatre producer and director Bonnie MacBird (born 1951), American actress, playwright, screenwriter and producer Bonnie MacLean (1939–2020), American artist Bonnie Maginn (1880–1964), American actress Bonnie Mann, American philosopher Bonnie Mark, American television writer and producer Bonnie Marranca, American critic and publisher Bonnie Mathieson (1945–2018), American scientist Bonnie Mbuli (born 1979), South African actress, businesswoman, and television personality Bonnie McCay (born 1941), American anthropologist Bonnie McElveen-Hunter (born 1950), American businesswoman, philanthropist, and diplomat Bonnie McFarlane (born 1973), Canadian stand-up comedian and writer Bonnie McKee (born 1984), award-winning American singer, songwriter, and actress Bonnie McKinnon, Canadian businesswoman and politician Bonnie Mealing (1912–2002), Australian freestyle and backstroke swimmer Bonnie Milligan, American musical theater performer and television actor Bonnie Mitchelson (born 1947), Canadian politician Bonnie Morgan, American actress and contortionist Bonnie J. Morris (born 1961), American women's studies scholar Bonnie Nadzam, American writer Bonnie Nardi, American academic Bonnie Nettles (1927–1985), American religious leader