Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Tonja is a form of Tonya. Tonya comes from Russian.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1940. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Tonja through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6,994
- 5 boys · 6,989 girls
- Most popular year
- 1967
- 512 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 6 in 2005. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 512 in 1967. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 5,679 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.
Tonja’s family of names
In English usage, Tonja has a related form in Tonya. In Danish usage, Tonja has a conventional equivalent in the German form Toni.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
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 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
If you love Tonja, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Sonja
“wisdom” · “having great wisdom and foresight”
>99% girls
Tina
Tina is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the river; also shortened torm of names ending in -tina.”
>99% girls
Tisha
“one who brings joy to others”
>99% girls
Tuesday
“born on Tuesday” · “born on a Tuesday”
>99% girls
Tanya
“queen of the fairies”
>99% girls
Rhonda
“wielding a good spear”
>99% girls
Sonya
“having great wisdom and foresight” · “wisdom”
>99% girls
Zina
“A secret spirit” · “welcoming”
>99% girls