Sonny
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from English in the mid-twentieth century.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Sonny (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Sonny has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2010. 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 | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 11 |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | 15 |
| 2004 | 12 |
| 2005 | 9 |
| 2006 | 6 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | 11 |
| 2009 | 7 |
| 2010 | 16 |
| 2011 | 5 |
| 2012 | 4 |
| 2013 | 4 |
| 2014 | 9 |
| 2015 | 6 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2021 | – |
| 2022 | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 36 | 1,938 |
| 2000 | 36 | 1,949 |
| 2001 | 35 | 1,952 |
| 2002 | 35 | 1,951 |
| 2003 | 36 | 1,984 |
| 2004 | 36 | 2,006 |
| 2005 | 35 | 1,992 |
| 2006 | 35 | 2,005 |
| 2007 | 32 | 2,000 |
| 2008 | 31 | 2,021 |
| 2009 | 30 | 2,015 |
| 2010 | 29 | 2,007 |
| 2011 | 28 | 1,992 |
| 2012 | 27 | 1,977 |
| 2013 | 26 | 1,967 |
| 2014 | 26 | 1,961 |
| 2015 | 25 | 1,949 |
| 2016 | 22 | 1,945 |
| 2017 | 22 | 1,939 |
| 2018 | 21 | 1,923 |
| 2019 | 19 | 1,901 |
| 2020 | 19 | 1,871 |
Sonny in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Sonny.Hi! My name is Sonny.
- Har du träffat Sonny? Han började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Sonny? He started working here on Monday.
- Vet du om Sonny kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Sonny is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Sonnys mamma är lärare.Sonny's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Sonnys mamma is Sonny's mum.
More names
Questions about Sonny
How do you pronounce Sonny in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Sonny from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Sonny mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from English in the mid-twentieth century.
How popular is Sonny in Sweden?
Fewer than two babies of either sex were named Sonny in 2022. In 2020, 1,890 people in Sweden had Sonny as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 2010 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.