How rare is the name Sonya?

56,885 people in the United States have the first name Sonya, about 1 in 5,310. It ranks #827 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

SONYA

#827

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
56,885
About
1 in 5,310
This common or more
67.2%
Who bears it

Of the 56,885 people named Sonya, 51.3% reported their origin as White, 27.7% as Black and 12.2% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Sonya peaked in 1967, when 2,987 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19052025
Peak year
1967
Births that year
2,987
In 2025*
100 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 65,954 babies have been given the name since 1905. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Sonya by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1970s, when it ranked #292. The largest share of babies named Sonya, 52.5%, were born between 1965 and 1980, Generation X's birth years.

1900s#3,69518
1910s#2,590209
1920s#2,174416
1930s#9351,655
1940s#1,0321,759
1950s#8473,664
1960s#31522,351
1970s#29219,556
1980s#5668,460
1990s#1,2153,385
2000s#1,8762,279
2010s#2,6011,568
2020s#3,433634
Greatest Generation 1901–270.8%
Silent Generation 1928–454.3%
Baby boom 1946–6419.5%
Generation X 1965–8052.5%
Millennials 1981–9614.8%
Generation Z 1997–125.6%
2013 and later2.5%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Sonya is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Sonya has been most common in Alabama (2.3×), South Carolina (2×), and Georgia (1.9×), and least common in Rhode Island (0.25×).

61,188 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Sonya

#825 Orlando · 57,035#826 Mckenzie · 56,889#828 Vernon · 56,780#829 Adrienne · 56,597

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Sonya, most common first.

#494 Sonia · 113,726#5,819 Sona · 2,857#8,535 Sony · 1,697#15,649 Soniya · 732#24,063 Somya · 403#24,355 Sonna · 396#33,953 Sonyia · 242#51,501 Sonnya · 113

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