Sonya

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Sonia in BR Brazil, US United States, ES Spain and 5 more, Sofia in AR Argentina, MX Mexico, GR Greece and 4 more, Валентина in RU Russia, UA Ukraine, KZ Kazakhstan and Valentina in CL Chile, CO Colombia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 21 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Sonya is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name61K records spelled Sonya3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Șonya, Sônya

• Spanish given name49K records spelled Sonya11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Sonyą, Sőnyä, Sônya, Soñya, Sónya

• French given name14K records spelled Sonya12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, Spain

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Sonyà, Sónya, Soñya, Sonyä, Sônya

• Indonesian given name10K records spelled Sonya5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, India, Russia

  Also written 'Sonya, Sonya', Şonya, Sonÿà

• Turkish given name3.4K records spelled Sonya4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, United States, Kazakhstan, Syria

  Languages: Turkish, Uzbek, Azerbaijani

  Also written Şonya

• Swahili given name3.3K records spelled Sonya4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Şonya

• Finnish given name1.8K records spelled Sonya4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Sõnÿã

• Japanese given name1.5K records spelled Sonya2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Şonya

63 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Sonya is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• The Russian form of Sophia. Both Sonya and its spelling variant, Sonja, have been noted in Ireland in modern times.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, A female given name from Russian Соня (Sonja).

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Portuguese, a female given name, variant of Sônia

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swahili, to whistle or click in contempt

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In umb, express astonishment by click

  as a word·Vocabulary of the Umbundu Language

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 119 years between 1905–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Sonya Levienb. 1888USAmerican screenwriter (1888-1960)
• Sonya Hedenbrattb. 1931SESwedish jazz singer and actress
• Sonya Eddyb. 1967USAmerican actress (1967–2022)
• Serenityb. 1969USnot in their usual namepornographic actress from the United States
• Sonya Walgerb. 1974GBBritish-American actress
• Sonya Salomaab. 1974CAactress
• Sonya Yonchevab. 1981BGBulgarian opera singer
• Sonya Balmoresb. 1986USAmerican actress
• Sonya Cassidyb. 1987GBBritish actor
• Sonya Belousovab. 1990RURussian-born composer, pianist and recording artist

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 777 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Sonya?

We estimate roughly 1.5 million people bear Sonya (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Sonya have the most bearers?

Sonya is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled валентина.

How common is Sonya compared with other names?

In Russia, Sonya is the 17th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Sonya a male or female name?

Sonya is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Sonya mean?

Recorded meaning: Russian pet form of Sofya (see Sophia), popular as a given name in its own right in Britain and elsewhere since the 1920s.