Sonali
Sonali was given to 24 girls in 2025, #5,379 among girls’ names; 1,360 Americans have been recorded with it since 1970 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,340 Americans named Sonali and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 14 and 32.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sonali by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Sonali?
#5,379 among girls’ names, 2025
Sonali rose from #7,227 in 2015 to #5,379 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 9.5 to 14.9 per million.
60 babies in 2000, the peak
Sonali peaked in 2000, when 60 girls were given it, #2,533 among girls’ names. The 24 births of 2025 are 40% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 24 | #5,379 | 14.9 |
| 2024 | 19 | #6,369 | 11.7 |
| 2023 | 24 | #5,362 | 15.0 |
| 2022 | 25 | #5,284 | 15.2 |
| 2021 | 32 | #4,397 | 19.5 |
| 2020 | 30 | #4,531 | 18.6 |
| 2019 | 16 | #7,301 | 9.5 |
| 2018 | 23 | #5,592 | 13.5 |
| 2017 | 23 | #5,641 | 13.3 |
| 2016 | 23 | #5,772 | 13.0 |
Every recorded year (56)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 17 | #7,227 | 9.5 |
| 2014 | 26 | #5,294 | 14.6 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,807 | 13.1 |
| 2012 | 36 | #4,201 | 20.4 |
| 2011 | 37 | #4,060 | 21.0 |
| 2010 | 25 | #5,572 | 14.1 |
| 2009 | 27 | #5,362 | 14.7 |
| 2008 | 30 | #4,992 | 15.9 |
| 2007 | 31 | #4,791 | 16.1 |
| 2006 | 38 | #3,983 | 20.0 |
| 2005 | 35 | #4,104 | 18.9 |
| 2004 | 45 | #3,384 | 24.5 |
| 2003 | 50 | #3,033 | 27.4 |
| 2002 | 48 | #3,057 | 26.7 |
| 2001 | 46 | #3,082 | 25.5 |
| 2000 | 60 | #2,533 | 33.0 |
| 1999 | 39 | #3,302 | 22.0 |
| 1998 | 44 | #2,960 | 24.9 |
| 1997 | 45 | #2,768 | 25.9 |
| 1996 | 35 | #3,349 | 20.0 |
| 1995 | 27 | #3,956 | 15.4 |
| 1994 | 25 | #4,218 | 14.0 |
| 1993 | 19 | #5,169 | 10.5 |
| 1992 | 19 | #5,236 | 10.3 |
| 1991 | 20 | #4,976 | 10.7 |
| 1990 | 18 | #5,247 | 9.5 |
| 1989 | 24 | #4,103 | 13.0 |
| 1988 | 22 | #4,150 | 12.4 |
| 1987 | 20 | #4,249 | 11.5 |
| 1986 | 14 | #5,419 | 8.2 |
| 1985 | 19 | #4,263 | 11.0 |
| 1984 | 8 | #8,052 | 4.8 |
| 1983 | 6 | #10,094 | 3.6 |
| 1982 | 13 | #5,493 | 7.7 |
| 1981 | 12 | #5,846 | 7.2 |
| 1980 | 14 | #5,205 | 8.4 |
| 1979 | 16 | #4,602 | 10.0 |
| 1978 | 17 | #4,226 | 11.1 |
| 1977 | 9 | #6,808 | 5.9 |
| 1976 | 14 | #4,570 | 9.6 |
| 1975 | 14 | #4,561 | 9.6 |
| 1974 | 8 | #6,783 | 5.5 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,570 | 5.5 |
| 1972 | 5 | #9,425 | 3.3 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,528 | 4.8 |
| 1970 | 5 | #9,138 | 2.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sonali a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sonali has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 56 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Sonali: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sonali, and how old are they?
1,340 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,360 Americans ever recorded as Sonali. The median Sonali alive today is 24 years old; half are between 14 and 32.
The 2020 Census counted 2,867 people named Sonali (2,859 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,197 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.4 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 111 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 293 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 629 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 303 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Sonali born?
The states with the most babies named Sonali are California, New York and New Jersey, with 92% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 209 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| New York | 62 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New Jersey | 52 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 15 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Texas | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Sonali is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sonali is most over-represented in California: since 1970 it was given 1.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Sonali with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Sonali
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Sonali and names like it
- Compare Sonali and NadiraBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sSonali peaked in 2000.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sonali since 1910.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Sonali.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Sonali alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.