Sonya
Sonya was given to 100 girls in 2025, #1,939 among girls’ names; 65,954 Americans have been recorded with it since 1905 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 58,300 Americans named Sonya and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 45 and 60.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sonya by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sonya mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sonya is “a female given name from Russian Соня (Sonja).” Its etymology gives the senses “Sofia, Sophia” (Софи́я) and “wisdom” (σοφία).
Borrowed from Russian and Ukrainian Со́ня (Sónja), an informal pet form of Со́фья (Sófʹja), Софі́я (Sofíja) or Софи́я (Sofíja, “Sofia, Sophia”), from the Ancient Greek σοφία (sophía, “wisdom”). It was introduced into English through 19th century Russian literature and taken into general use in early twentieth century.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sonya?
#1,939 among girls’ names, 2025
Sonya fell from #1,414 in 2015 to #1,939 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 91.9 to 62.2 per million.
2,987 babies in 1967, the peak
Sonya peaked in 1967, when 2,987 babies were given it (2,980 girls, #114 among girls’ names). The 100 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 100 | #1,939 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 104 | #1,924 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 107 | #1,877 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 114 | #1,805 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 99 | #1,978 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 110 | #1,805 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 99 | #1,969 | 0.06 |
| 2018 | 123 | #1,691 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 135 | #1,612 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 137 | #1,612 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (119)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 164 | #1,414 | 0.09 |
| 2014 | 161 | #1,421 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 190 | #1,259 | 0.11 |
| 2012 | 195 | #1,247 | 0.11 |
| 2011 | 170 | #1,361 | 0.10 |
| 2010 | 194 | #1,243 | 0.11 |
| 2009 | 221 | #1,150 | 0.12 |
| 2008 | 201 | #1,256 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 223 | #1,151 | 0.12 |
| 2006 | 255 | #1,012 | 0.13 |
| 2005 | 214 | #1,109 | 0.12 |
| 2004 | 222 | #1,047 | 0.12 |
| 2003 | 238 | #975 | 0.13 |
| 2002 | 248 | #907 | 0.14 |
| 2001 | 210 | #1,029 | 0.12 |
| 2000 | 247 | #891 | 0.14 |
| 1999 | 278 | #789 | 0.16 |
| 1998 | 275 | #783 | 0.16 |
| 1997 | 297 | #722 | 0.17 |
| 1996 | 289 | #728 | 0.16 |
| 1995 | 310 | #689 | 0.18 |
| 1994 | 306 | #687 | 0.17 |
| 1993 | 380 | #605 | 0.21 |
| 1992 | 386 | #592 | 0.21 |
| 1991 | 394 | #585 | 0.21 |
| 1990 | 470 | #512 | 0.25 |
| 1989 | 525 | #464 | 0.28 |
| 1988 | 632 | #379 | 0.35 |
| 1987 | 618 | #379 | 0.36 |
| 1986 | 735 | #329 | 0.43 |
| 1985 | 797 | #303 | 0.46 |
| 1984 | 855 | #283 | 0.51 |
| 1983 | 917 | #261 | 0.55 |
| 1982 | 1,008 | #249 | 0.60 |
| 1981 | 1,135 | #226 | 0.68 |
| 1980 | 1,206 | #215 | 0.73 |
| 1979 | 1,287 | #206 | 0.80 |
| 1978 | 1,264 | #205 | 0.83 |
| 1977 | 1,382 | #193 | 0.90 |
| 1976 | 1,520 | #166 | 1.0 |
| 1975 | 1,760 | #154 | 1.2 |
| 1974 | 2,111 | #132 | 1.4 |
| 1973 | 2,169 | #131 | 1.5 |
| 1972 | 2,506 | #122 | 1.6 |
| 1971 | 2,729 | #126 | 1.6 |
| 1970 | 2,740 | #131 | 1.6 |
| 1969 | 2,800 | #123 | 1.7 |
| 1968 | 2,817 | #117 | 1.7 |
| 1967 | 2,980 | #114 | 1.8 |
| 1966 | 2,866 | #126 | 1.7 |
| 1965 | 2,351 | #160 | 1.3 |
| 1964 | 1,999 | #187 | 1.1 |
| 1963 | 1,920 | #194 | 1.0 |
| 1962 | 1,741 | #208 | 0.89 |
| 1961 | 1,541 | #218 | 0.76 |
| 1960 | 1,274 | #245 | 0.63 |
| 1959 | 778 | #339 | 0.38 |
| 1958 | 461 | #444 | 0.23 |
| 1957 | 396 | #475 | 0.19 |
| 1956 | 394 | #471 | 0.20 |
| 1955 | 340 | #499 | 0.17 |
| 1954 | 311 | #502 | 0.16 |
| 1953 | 311 | #492 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 278 | #503 | 0.15 |
| 1951 | 189 | #633 | 0.10 |
| 1950 | 206 | #586 | 0.12 |
| 1949 | 163 | #654 | 0.10 |
| 1948 | 195 | #597 | 0.11 |
| 1947 | 164 | #652 | 0.09 |
| 1946 | 164 | #620 | 0.10 |
| 1945 | 165 | #571 | 0.13 |
| 1944 | 150 | #601 | 0.11 |
| 1943 | 170 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1942 | 212 | #511 | 0.16 |
| 1941 | 179 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1940 | 197 | #489 | 0.17 |
| 1939 | 211 | #463 | 0.19 |
| 1938 | 245 | #427 | 0.22 |
| 1937 | 229 | #430 | 0.22 |
| 1936 | 195 | #461 | 0.19 |
| 1935 | 190 | #463 | 0.18 |
| 1934 | 183 | #476 | 0.18 |
| 1933 | 140 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1932 | 118 | #605 | 0.11 |
| 1931 | 72 | #805 | 0.07 |
| 1930 | 72 | #845 | 0.06 |
| 1929 | 53 | #1,001 | 0.05 |
| 1928 | 83 | #790 | 0.07 |
| 1927 | 69 | #903 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 43 | #1,179 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 34 | #1,405 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,711 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 31 | #1,487 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 19 | #2,093 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 31 | #1,509 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 27 | #1,622 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 18 | #2,050 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 34 | #1,325 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 27 | #1,467 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 37 | #1,187 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 20 | #1,733 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 21 | #1,433 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 27 | #1,061 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,327 | 0.01 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,640 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 7 | #2,116 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,745 | 0.02 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,390 | 0.01 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,194 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sonya a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sonya has been given almost only to girls: 182 boys in 119 years of records.
Girls and boys named Sonya: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sonya, and how old are they?
58,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 65,954 Americans ever recorded as Sonya. The median Sonya alive today is 55 years old; half are between 45 and 60.
The 2020 Census counted 56,885 people named Sonya (56,811 women and girls, 74 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 59,774 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 957 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 10,700 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 31,900 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 9,480 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,650 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,630 |
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 Sonya born?
The states with the most babies named Sonya are California, Texas and New York, with 22% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 5,350 | #2,071 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 5,084 | #2,371 | 1.1× |
| New York | 3,262 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 3,222 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| North Carolina | 3,118 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Ohio | 2,944 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Florida | 2,681 | #1,534 | 1.2× |
| Alabama | 2,630 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Illinois | 2,559 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,551 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Sonya is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sonya is most over-represented in Alabama: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 Sonya 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 136,293 babies since 1880, Sonya is the second most given (48% of them). In 2025 it was given to 100 of their 341 babies (29%), again the second 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 Sonya
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 Sonya and names like it
- Compare Sonya and SoniaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sSonya peaked in 1967.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sonya since 1910.
- Russian namesWiktionary’s origin for Sonya: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1967The year the most babies were named Sonya.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Sonya alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.