Given name
Tanja
Tanja is a feminine given name. It is used in English, German, Swedish, Danish, and 5 other languages.
Original RussianТаня
Meaning & origin
How it developed
In German usage, Tanja is a diminutive of Татьяна. In German usage, Tanja developed from Таня.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1943. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Tanja through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 2,580
- 0 boys · 2,580 girls
- Most popular year
- 1970
- 153 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 7 in 2007. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 153 in 1970. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 4,010 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Tanja’s family of names
In German usage, Tanja is a diminutive of Татьяна. In Finnish usage, Tanja shares a linguistic root with the English form Tania. In English usage, Tanja has a related form in Tanya.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Tanja has relatives in 8 languages. Lines run from its Russian roots to each of them.
Russianwhere Tanja comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 5
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 7
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Tanja
- Tanja FajonSlovenian politicianborn 1971
- Tanja PoutiainenFinnish alpine skierborn 1980
- Tanja RibičSlovene actress and singerborn 1968
- MichelleGerman schlager singerborn 1972
- Tanja Friedensnowboarderborn 1976
- Tanja Stupar-Trifunovićauthor from Bosnia and Herzegovinaborn 1977
- Tanja HüberliSwiss volleyball and beach volleyball playerborn 1992
- Tanja KarpelaFinnish politicianborn 1970
- Tanja ŽakeljSlovenian cyclist (born 1988)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Tanja, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Ronya
Ronya is a feminine given name from Swedish, ultimately from Russian.
>99% girls
Kiska
“one who is pure; virginal”
>99% girls
Ninotchka
“a little girl” · “a fiery woman”
>99% girls
Vilija
Vilija is a feminine given name. It is used in Lithuanian.
>99% girls
Kiira
Kiira is a feminine given name from Russian, ultimately from English. It is used in Finnish and Estonian.
>99% girls
Tarja
Tarja is a feminine given name from Russian, ultimately from Ancient Greek. It is used in Finnish.
>99% girls
Natasja
“birthday”
>99% girls
Raija
Raija is a feminine given name from Russian. It is used in Finnish.
>99% girls