Variant spelling of Tony, a diminutive of Anthony, from the Roman family name Antonius.
Toney is a variant spelling of Tony, the diminutive of Anthony or Antony — one of the great Roman family names, Antonius, whose ultimate etymology remains debated: some scholars trace it to the Etruscan, others to a Greek root meaning "priceless" or "flourishing." Whatever its pre-Latin origins, the name became famous through Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius), Caesar's general and Cleopatra's lover, and spread across Christendom through Saint Anthony of Padua (1195–1231), one of the most universally beloved saints in the Catholic calendar and patron of lost things. The -ey spelling of Toney gives it a distinctly American character.
It appears in African American naming traditions from the nineteenth century onward, reflecting the creative orthographic individualism that has always been a feature of American name culture — a way of making an inherited name visibly one's own. Toney Perkis, various athletes, and local historical figures bearing the spelling have given it regional roots across the American South. The variant also appears in census records as a standalone given name rather than strictly a nickname, suggesting it was used independently in communities that valued its sound as much as its derivation.
In contemporary usage, Toney occupies an interesting space: familiar enough to feel warm and approachable, spelled unusually enough to signal individuality. It shares the friendly, open-vowel energy of Tony while its spelling marks it as distinctly its own. For families drawn to names with deep classical roots but American vernacular character, Toney offers a quietly distinctive option with genuine historical use on both sides of the Atlantic.