NameYear

Girls' name · peaked in 1938

Sonja name popularity since 1925

39,365 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Sonja. Half of them were born in 1966 or earlier, so the typical Sonja is about 60 years old in 2026. Sonja peaked in 1938 as the #180 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925
39,365
Named Sonja, 1925–2025
Peak year
1938
#180 for girls that year
Typical age
About 60
Median birth year 1966
In 2025
Not top 1,000
#3,966 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys
99.9% girls
39,321 girls · 44 boys
Most popular in
Minnesota
2.24× its national share

Peak year is the year Sonja made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Sonja births per year, 1925–2025

Babies named Sonja per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year by count was 1968. Measured as a share of all babies, Sonja peaked in 1938.

  • Fastest rise: Between 1936 and 1941, Sonja became 2.7× more common, from 1 in 5,780 baby girls to 1 in 2,130.
  • Steepest fall: Between 1938 and 1943, its share of baby girls fell by 63%, from 1 in 988 to 1 in 2,660.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Sonja's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Sonja.

Decade by decade

Babies named Sonja in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade GirlsBoys Rank
1925–29 1340 –
1930s 3,14310 #704
1940s 5,0815 #317
1950s 4,6190 #419
1960s 10,96214 #255
1970s 7,96215 #354
1980s 3,2400 #621
1990s 1,6950 #1,367
2000s 1,1870 #1,607
2010s 9560 #2,207
2020–25 3420 #3,966

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

37.7% of babies named Sonja from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen X years (1965–1980). The full split by generation:

Sonja by generation Greatest Generation born 1925–27 0.2% Silent Generation born 1928–45 16.5% Baby Boomers born 1946–64 27.8% Gen X born 1965–80 37.7% Millennials born 1981–96 10.4% Gen Z born 1997–2012 5.0% Gen Alpha born 2013–25 2.5%

Where Sonja is most popular

The index compares Sonja's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Sonja.

StateIndexBabies
Minnesota2.24×1,451
Washington1.76×1,044
Alabama1.75×1,100
Oregon1.60×533
Kansas1.48×536

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Sonja's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Sonja.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Sonja (1938).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data