Ronja
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name used in Sweden since 1981. Coined by Astrid Lindgren for the heroine of the children's book Ronja rövardotter (1981) by taking the middle letters of Juronjaure, the Sami name of a lake in north Sweden, said to mean "lake by a hill". Lindgren was obviously looking for something that sounded familiar, like Sonja, a well established name in Sweden by 1981. Another similar name is Роня (Ronja), a Russian pet form of several male and female given names, but the name Ronja was very rare in Sweden until the book was published.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Ronja (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Ronja has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2022. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 147 |
| 1999 | 152 |
| 2000 | 175 |
| 2001 | 151 |
| 2002 | 191 |
| 2003 | 172 |
| 2004 | 186 |
| 2005 | 145 |
| 2006 | 180 |
| 2007 | 167 |
| 2008 | 163 |
| 2009 | 161 |
| 2010 | 157 |
| 2011 | 157 |
| 2012 | 181 |
| 2013 | 179 |
| 2014 | 139 |
| 2015 | 173 |
| 2016 | 172 |
| 2017 | 160 |
| 2018 | 194 |
| 2019 | 166 |
| 2020 | 197 |
| 2021 | 139 |
| 2022 | 200 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1,746 |
| 2000 | 1,920 |
| 2001 | 2,078 |
| 2002 | 2,259 |
| 2003 | 2,433 |
| 2004 | 2,625 |
| 2005 | 2,759 |
| 2006 | 2,942 |
| 2007 | 3,111 |
| 2008 | 3,282 |
| 2009 | 3,454 |
| 2010 | 3,610 |
| 2011 | 3,759 |
| 2012 | 3,949 |
| 2013 | 4,117 |
| 2014 | 4,253 |
| 2015 | 4,443 |
| 2016 | 4,612 |
| 2017 | 4,778 |
| 2018 | 4,963 |
| 2019 | 5,143 |
| 2020 | 5,325 |
Ronja in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Ronja.Hi! My name is Ronja.
- Ronja bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Ronja lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Vet du om Ronja kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Ronja is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Ronjas mamma är lärare.Ronja's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Ronjas mamma is Ronja's mum.
More names
Questions about Ronja
How do you pronounce Ronja in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Ronja from a native speaker's recording. J is said like the English y.
What does the name Ronja mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name used in Sweden since 1981. Coined by Astrid Lindgren for the heroine of the children's book Ronja rövardotter (1981) by taking the middle letters of Juronjaure, the Sami name of a lake in north Sweden, said to mean "lake by a hill". Lindgren was obviously looking for something that sounded familiar, like Sonja, a well established name in Sweden by 1981. Another similar name is Роня (Ronja), a Russian pet form of several male and female given names, but the name Ronja was very rare in Sweden until the book was published.
How popular is Ronja in Sweden?
200 babies were named Ronja in 2022. In 2020, 5,325 people in Sweden had Ronja as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2022 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.