Tanya
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a diminutive of the female given names Tatiana (from Russian) and Tetyana (from Ukrainian). Borrowed in the twentieth century from the Russian pet form Та́ня (Tánja) of Татья́на (Tatʹjána, “Tatiana”).
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Tanya (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Tanya has been rising 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 | 12 |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 5 |
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2006 | 9 |
| 2007 | 2 |
| 2008 | 9 |
| 2009 | 6 |
| 2010 | 3 |
| 2011 | 3 |
| 2012 | 6 |
| 2013 | 2 |
| 2014 | – |
| 2015 | – |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2017 | – |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | – |
| 2020 | 5 |
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 210 |
| 2000 | 232 |
| 2001 | 250 |
| 2002 | 257 |
| 2003 | 270 |
| 2004 | 282 |
| 2005 | 298 |
| 2006 | 315 |
| 2007 | 328 |
| 2008 | 343 |
| 2009 | 355 |
| 2010 | 359 |
| 2011 | 359 |
| 2012 | 366 |
| 2013 | 381 |
| 2014 | 396 |
| 2015 | 398 |
| 2016 | 399 |
| 2017 | 413 |
| 2018 | 421 |
| 2019 | 428 |
| 2020 | 434 |
Tanya in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Tanya.Hi! My name is Tanya.
- Har du träffat Tanya? Hon började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Tanya? She started working here on Monday.
- Tanya har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Tanya has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Tanyas mamma är lärare.Tanya's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Tanyas mamma is Tanya's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Tanya
How do you pronounce Tanya in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Tanya in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Tanya mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a diminutive of the female given names Tatiana (from Russian) and Tetyana (from Ukrainian). Borrowed in the twentieth century from the Russian pet form Та́ня (Tánja) of Татья́на (Tatʹjána, “Tatiana”).
How popular is Tanya in Sweden?
Fewer than two babies of either sex were named Tanya in 2022. In 2020, 434 people in Sweden had Tanya as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising 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.