Given name & surname
Sonny
“our son”
Sonny is used as a given name, a surname, and a nickname. One English interpretation is “our son.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “our son.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
In English usage, Sonny is a diminutive of Sonia.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1888. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Sonny through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 23,356
- 22,327 boys · 1,029 girls
- Most popular year
- 2025
- 1,192 babies
- 2025
- 1,192
- #298 for boys · #3,022 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +128%
- Rising fast
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 1,137 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 298 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 132.8% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. It also appeared in 55 birth records for girls in 2025. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (147). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 15,433 as a first name in 2020; 270 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Sonny’s family of names
In English usage, Sonny is a diminutive of Sonia. In English usage, Sonny shares a linguistic root with the Swedish form SUNE. Sonny has a related form in Sonnie.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Sonny
- SkrillexAmerican DJ and producer (born 1988)
- Sonny ListonAmerican boxer (c. 1930–1970)
- Sonny Bill WilliamsNew Zealand rugby league and rugby union player, and heavyweight boxerborn 1985
- Sonny PerdueAmerican politicianborn 1946
- Sonny TerryAmerican Piedmont blues musician (1911–1986)
- Sonny ColbrelliItalian cyclistborn 1990
- Sonny KittelGerman association football playerborn 1993
- Sonny StittAmerican jazz saxophonist (1924-1982)
- Sonny FortuneAmerican saxophonist (1939–2018)
Characters named Sonny: Sonny Corleone (The Godfather series), James "Sonny" Crockett (Miami Vice fictional character).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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