Tonya
Tonya was given to 11 girls in 2025, #9,409 among girls’ names; 120,856 Americans have been recorded with it since 1923 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 111,000 Americans named Tonya and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 53 years old and half are between 48 and 58.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tonya by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tonya mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tonya is “a diminutive of the female given names Antonina and Antonia, from Russian” Its etymology gives the sense “Antonina” (Антони́на).
Phonetic rendering of Russian То́ня (Tónja), an informal pet form of Антони́на (Antonína, “Antonina”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tonya?
#9,409 among girls’ names, 2025
Tonya fell from #4,844 in 2015 to #9,409 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 16.2 to 6.8 per million.
7,273 babies in 1972, the peak
Tonya peaked in 1972, when 7,273 babies were given it (7,244 girls, #37 among girls’ names). The 11 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 | #9,409 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 18 | #6,617 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 8 | #12,093 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 14 | #7,993 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 20 | #6,150 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 16 | #7,192 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 12 | #9,065 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 23 | #5,599 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 23 | #5,646 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 18 | #6,881 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (95)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 29 | #4,844 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 25 | #5,440 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 26 | #5,304 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 34 | #4,376 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 40 | #3,833 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 49 | #3,356 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 44 | #3,671 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 58 | #3,013 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 55 | #3,163 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 45 | #3,559 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 77 | #2,338 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 67 | #2,522 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 100 | #1,856 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 88 | #2,001 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 103 | #1,744 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 138 | #1,360 | 0.08 |
| 1999 | 147 | #1,268 | 0.08 |
| 1998 | 141 | #1,282 | 0.08 |
| 1997 | 222 | #905 | 0.13 |
| 1996 | 219 | #899 | 0.12 |
| 1995 | 273 | #748 | 0.16 |
| 1994 | 373 | #603 | 0.21 |
| 1993 | 432 | #551 | 0.24 |
| 1992 | 542 | #456 | 0.29 |
| 1991 | 590 | #430 | 0.31 |
| 1990 | 725 | #365 | 0.38 |
| 1989 | 830 | #310 | 0.45 |
| 1988 | 1,003 | #255 | 0.56 |
| 1987 | 1,189 | #227 | 0.68 |
| 1986 | 1,298 | #201 | 0.76 |
| 1985 | 1,642 | #172 | 1.0 |
| 1984 | 1,855 | #153 | 1.1 |
| 1983 | 1,956 | #147 | 1.2 |
| 1982 | 2,379 | #126 | 1.4 |
| 1981 | 2,755 | #110 | 1.7 |
| 1980 | 3,080 | #97 | 1.9 |
| 1979 | 3,495 | #86 | 2.2 |
| 1978 | 3,826 | #77 | 2.5 |
| 1977 | 4,263 | #64 | 2.8 |
| 1976 | 4,966 | #58 | 3.4 |
| 1975 | 5,896 | #45 | 4.0 |
| 1974 | 6,878 | #37 | 4.7 |
| 1973 | 7,184 | #36 | 4.9 |
| 1972 | 7,244 | #37 | 4.8 |
| 1971 | 6,897 | #45 | 4.1 |
| 1970 | 7,140 | #49 | 4.1 |
| 1969 | 6,169 | #54 | 3.7 |
| 1968 | 5,661 | #60 | 3.5 |
| 1967 | 5,164 | #68 | 3.1 |
| 1966 | 3,630 | #96 | 2.1 |
| 1965 | 2,968 | #129 | 1.7 |
| 1964 | 2,698 | #150 | 1.4 |
| 1963 | 2,369 | #167 | 1.2 |
| 1962 | 2,247 | #174 | 1.1 |
| 1961 | 1,839 | #199 | 0.91 |
| 1960 | 1,327 | #242 | 0.66 |
| 1959 | 1,073 | #268 | 0.53 |
| 1958 | 764 | #340 | 0.38 |
| 1957 | 644 | #357 | 0.31 |
| 1956 | 566 | #371 | 0.28 |
| 1955 | 402 | #448 | 0.21 |
| 1954 | 353 | #473 | 0.18 |
| 1953 | 294 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1952 | 240 | #560 | 0.13 |
| 1951 | 205 | #601 | 0.11 |
| 1950 | 153 | #696 | 0.09 |
| 1949 | 134 | #740 | 0.08 |
| 1948 | 139 | #713 | 0.08 |
| 1947 | 152 | #684 | 0.09 |
| 1946 | 119 | #754 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 101 | #748 | 0.08 |
| 1944 | 92 | #799 | 0.07 |
| 1943 | 66 | #985 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 75 | #912 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 31 | #1,417 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 35 | #1,268 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,788 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,646 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 21 | #1,731 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 23 | #1,589 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,906 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,720 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,850 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 5 | #5,188 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,340 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Tonya a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Tonya has been given almost only to girls: 435 boys in 95 years of records.
Girls and boys named Tonya: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tonya, and how old are they?
111,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 120,856 Americans ever recorded as Tonya. The median Tonya alive today is 53 years old; half are between 48 and 58.
The 2020 Census counted 100,565 people named Tonya (100,416 women and girls, 149 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 113,899 born in the U.S. The Census count is 12% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 243 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 13,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 78,700 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 17,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,390 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 241 |
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 Tonya born?
The states with the most babies named Tonya are Ohio, Texas and North Carolina, with 20% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 8,203 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Texas | 7,687 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 7,117 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Georgia | 5,901 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| California | 5,595 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Michigan | 5,547 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Tennessee | 4,969 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Florida | 4,762 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Indiana | 4,738 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 4,693 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Tonya is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tonya is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1923 it was given 2.2 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 Tonya 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 257,913 babies since 1880, Tonya is the most given (47% of them). In 2025 it was given to 11 of their 111 babies (9.9%), the second most given that year.
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 Tonya
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 Tonya and names like it
- Compare Tonya and ToniBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sTonya peaked in 1972.
- Ohio’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tonya since 1910.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Tonya.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Tonya alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with TMost given first.