Sonja
Sonja was given to 37 girls in 2025, #3,965 among girls’ names; 39,557 Americans have been recorded with it since 1906 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 31,800 Americans named Sonja and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (81% of everyone recorded); the median is 58 years old and half are between 48 and 66.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sonja by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sonja mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sonja is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sonja?
#3,965 among girls’ names, 2025
Sonja fell from #2,207 in 2015 to #3,965 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 48.2 to 23.0 per million.
1,343 babies in 1967, the peak
Sonja peaked in 1967, when 1,343 babies were given it (1,335 girls, #220 among girls’ names). The 37 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37 | #3,965 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 56 | #2,975 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 65 | #2,698 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 40 | #3,820 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 68 | #2,582 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 76 | #2,337 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 80 | #2,284 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 77 | #2,385 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 69 | #2,568 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 92 | #2,124 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 86 | #2,207 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 110 | #1,850 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 110 | #1,846 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 114 | #1,800 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 108 | #1,869 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 110 | #1,858 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 121 | #1,790 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 120 | #1,814 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 105 | #1,969 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 128 | #1,662 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 127 | #1,606 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 133 | #1,518 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 114 | #1,685 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 110 | #1,681 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 106 | #1,709 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 123 | #1,500 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 146 | #1,272 | 0.08 |
| 1998 | 159 | #1,177 | 0.09 |
| 1997 | 151 | #1,201 | 0.09 |
| 1996 | 141 | #1,241 | 0.08 |
| 1995 | 121 | #1,364 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 169 | #1,070 | 0.09 |
| 1993 | 169 | #1,078 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 196 | #976 | 0.11 |
| 1991 | 206 | #931 | 0.11 |
| 1990 | 237 | #830 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 272 | #726 | 0.15 |
| 1988 | 294 | #658 | 0.17 |
| 1987 | 303 | #631 | 0.17 |
| 1986 | 318 | #606 | 0.19 |
| 1985 | 303 | #621 | 0.18 |
| 1984 | 266 | #659 | 0.16 |
| 1983 | 314 | #573 | 0.19 |
| 1982 | 372 | #526 | 0.22 |
| 1981 | 401 | #502 | 0.24 |
| 1980 | 397 | #508 | 0.24 |
| 1979 | 438 | #460 | 0.27 |
| 1978 | 481 | #422 | 0.31 |
| 1977 | 518 | #401 | 0.34 |
| 1976 | 583 | #361 | 0.40 |
| 1975 | 615 | #354 | 0.42 |
| 1974 | 754 | #309 | 0.51 |
| 1973 | 884 | #278 | 0.61 |
| 1972 | 1,191 | #233 | 0.78 |
| 1971 | 1,188 | #247 | 0.71 |
| 1970 | 1,310 | #238 | 0.75 |
| 1969 | 1,314 | #229 | 0.78 |
| 1968 | 1,339 | #222 | 0.82 |
| 1967 | 1,335 | #220 | 0.81 |
| 1966 | 1,321 | #226 | 0.78 |
| 1965 | 1,125 | #255 | 0.64 |
| 1964 | 1,051 | #278 | 0.55 |
| 1963 | 995 | #294 | 0.52 |
| 1962 | 857 | #321 | 0.44 |
| 1961 | 867 | #320 | 0.43 |
| 1960 | 758 | #347 | 0.37 |
| 1959 | 678 | #365 | 0.34 |
| 1958 | 524 | #406 | 0.26 |
| 1957 | 531 | #398 | 0.26 |
| 1956 | 471 | #417 | 0.23 |
| 1955 | 445 | #418 | 0.23 |
| 1954 | 426 | #421 | 0.22 |
| 1953 | 413 | #428 | 0.22 |
| 1952 | 389 | #433 | 0.21 |
| 1951 | 397 | #418 | 0.22 |
| 1950 | 345 | #435 | 0.20 |
| 1949 | 412 | #390 | 0.24 |
| 1948 | 424 | #386 | 0.25 |
| 1947 | 496 | #362 | 0.28 |
| 1946 | 484 | #337 | 0.31 |
| 1945 | 455 | #317 | 0.35 |
| 1944 | 405 | #342 | 0.31 |
| 1943 | 525 | #304 | 0.38 |
| 1942 | 600 | #278 | 0.44 |
| 1941 | 567 | #268 | 0.47 |
| 1940 | 713 | #238 | 0.62 |
| 1939 | 862 | #203 | 0.79 |
| 1938 | 1,117 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1937 | 560 | #263 | 0.53 |
| 1936 | 180 | #479 | 0.17 |
| 1935 | 92 | #704 | 0.09 |
| 1934 | 86 | #723 | 0.08 |
| 1933 | 54 | #935 | 0.05 |
| 1932 | 70 | #823 | 0.07 |
| 1931 | 51 | #983 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 71 | #853 | 0.06 |
| 1929 | 37 | #1,238 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 29 | #1,498 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,718 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 25 | #1,712 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 18 | #2,180 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 20 | #2,053 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 23 | #1,829 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 21 | #1,950 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 22 | #1,914 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 11 | #3,071 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,420 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 17 | #2,193 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 16 | #2,193 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,230 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,669 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 13 | #1,998 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,511 | 0.01 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,925 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sonja a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sonja has been given almost only to girls: 44 boys in 114 years of records.
Girls and boys named Sonja: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sonja, and how old are they?
31,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 81% of the 39,557 Americans ever recorded as Sonja. The median Sonja alive today is 58 years old; half are between 48 and 66.
The 2020 Census counted 33,999 people named Sonja (33,943 women and girls, 56 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 33,725 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,600 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8,720 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 13,600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,960 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,950 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 960 |
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 Sonja born?
The states with the most babies named Sonja are California, Texas and Illinois, with 22% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 3,607 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 2,387 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 1,848 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 1,828 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 1,513 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Minnesota | 1,451 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Florida | 1,396 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Georgia | 1,387 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 1,303 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,266 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Sonja is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sonja is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 1.7 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 Sonja with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 41,574 babies since 1880, Sonja is the most given (95% of them). In 2025 it was given to 37 of their 37 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Sonja
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 Sonja and names like it
- Compare Sonja and SonjiaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sSonja peaked in 1967.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sonja since 1910.
- The top names of 1967The year the most babies were named Sonja.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Sonja alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.