Tanja
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name of mostly 1970s and 1980s usage, equivalent to English Tania. Borrowed from Russian Та́ня (Tánja).
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Tanja (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Tanja has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 1998. 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 | 23 |
| 1999 | 17 |
| 2000 | 12 |
| 2001 | 14 |
| 2002 | 17 |
| 2003 | 18 |
| 2004 | 13 |
| 2005 | 8 |
| 2006 | 9 |
| 2007 | 11 |
| 2008 | 11 |
| 2009 | 4 |
| 2010 | 9 |
| 2011 | 8 |
| 2012 | 2 |
| 2013 | 6 |
| 2014 | 4 |
| 2015 | 4 |
| 2016 | – |
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | – |
| 2022 | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1,778 |
| 2000 | 1,810 |
| 2001 | 1,828 |
| 2002 | 1,855 |
| 2003 | 1,880 |
| 2004 | 1,907 |
| 2005 | 1,925 |
| 2006 | 1,946 |
| 2007 | 1,967 |
| 2008 | 1,997 |
| 2009 | 2,021 |
| 2010 | 2,029 |
| 2011 | 2,036 |
| 2012 | 2,043 |
| 2013 | 2,059 |
| 2014 | 2,059 |
| 2015 | 2,070 |
| 2016 | 2,092 |
| 2017 | 2,098 |
| 2018 | 2,110 |
| 2019 | 2,121 |
| 2020 | 2,128 |
Tanja in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Tanja.Hi! My name is Tanja.
- Tanja bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Tanja lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Vet du om Tanja kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Tanja is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Tanjas mamma är lärare.Tanja's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Tanjas mamma is Tanja's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Tanja
How do you pronounce Tanja in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Tanja from a native speaker's recording. J is said like the English y.
What does the name Tanja mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name of mostly 1970s and 1980s usage, equivalent to English Tania. Borrowed from Russian Та́ня (Tánja).
How popular is Tanja in Sweden?
Fewer than two babies of either sex were named Tanja in 2022. In 2020, 2,128 people in Sweden had Tanja as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 1998 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.