Sonja
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name, equivalent to English Sonya.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Sonja (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Sonja has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2014. 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 | 20 |
| 1999 | 22 |
| 2000 | 13 |
| 2001 | 24 |
| 2002 | 31 |
| 2003 | 29 |
| 2004 | 37 |
| 2005 | 38 |
| 2006 | 39 |
| 2007 | 65 |
| 2008 | 58 |
| 2009 | 66 |
| 2010 | 65 |
| 2011 | 69 |
| 2012 | 82 |
| 2013 | 79 |
| 2014 | 86 |
| 2015 | 58 |
| 2016 | 68 |
| 2017 | 68 |
| 2018 | 64 |
| 2019 | 65 |
| 2020 | 62 |
| 2021 | 64 |
| 2022 | 58 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 21,146 |
| 2000 | 20,630 |
| 2001 | 20,118 |
| 2002 | 19,635 |
| 2003 | 19,138 |
| 2004 | 18,626 |
| 2005 | 18,123 |
| 2006 | 17,589 |
| 2007 | 17,172 |
| 2008 | 16,718 |
| 2009 | 16,276 |
| 2010 | 15,793 |
| 2011 | 15,295 |
| 2012 | 14,895 |
| 2013 | 14,487 |
| 2014 | 14,073 |
| 2015 | 13,647 |
| 2016 | 13,216 |
| 2017 | 12,755 |
| 2018 | 12,334 |
| 2019 | 11,960 |
| 2020 | 11,501 |
Sonja in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Sonja.Hi! My name is Sonja.
- Har du träffat Sonja? Hon började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Sonja? She started working here on Monday.
- Vet du om Sonja kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Sonja is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Sonjas mamma är lärare.Sonja's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Sonjas mamma is Sonja's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Sonja
How do you pronounce Sonja in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Sonja from a native speaker's recording. J is said like the English y.
What does the name Sonja mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name, equivalent to English Sonya.
How popular is Sonja in Sweden?
58 babies were named Sonja in 2022. In 2020, 11,501 people in Sweden had Sonja as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2014 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.