Sonia is a feminine given name in many areas of the world including the West, Russia, Iran, and South Asia. Sonia and its variant spellings Sonja and Sonya are used in many countries, including Russia, as a diminutive for Sofiya (Greek Sophia "Wisdom").
The name was popularised in the English-speaking world by characters in the novels Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866, English translation 1885) and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1869, English translation 1886), and later by a 1917 bestselling novel, Sonia: Between Two Worlds, by Stephen McKenna.
Scandinavian countries spell the name with the letter j: Sonja, while many English speaking countries spell it with i or y: Sonia or Sonya.
Although the most common English pronunciation is , and are also possible.
Contents
Notable people
Queen Sonja of Norway (born 1937)
Sonia, alias of Omaira Rojas Cabrera (born 1967), FARC-EP guerrilla member
Sonya, cover name of the Soviet spy Ursula Kuczynski (1907–2000)
Sonja Albrink (1948–2012), Danish politician
Sonja Bakić (born 1984), Serbian pop/rock singer
Sonia Balassanian (born 1942), Iranian-born Armenian painter, sculptor, and curator
Sonja Barend (1940–2026), Dutch television personality and talk show host
Sonja Barjaktarović (born 1986), Montenegrin handball goalkeeper
Sonia Ben Ammar (born 1999), French-Tunisian model
Sonia Bermúdez Robles (born c. 1955), Colombian thanatologist
Sonja Berndt, American pharmacologist and cancer epidemiologist
Sônia Braga (born 1950), Brazilian actress
Sonia Chase (born 1976), American basketball player and philanthropist
Sonia Cheng, Hong Kong business executive
Sonja Christopher, American Survivor contestant
Sonia Citron (born 2003), American basketball player
Sonia Couling (born 1974), Thai model, actress and TV personality
Sonia Darrin (1924–2020), American film actress
Sonia Disa (born 1944), Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema actress
Sonya Eddy (1958–2022), American actress
Sonia Evans (born 1971), English pop singer
Sonia Fergina Citra (born 1993), Indonesian beauty pageant titleholder who won Puteri Indonesia 2018
Sonja Fransson (born 1949), Swedish politician
Sonia Gandhi (born 1946), Indian politician, president of the Indian National Congress 1998–2017 and 2019–2022
Sonya Googins (born 1936), American politician
Sonya Haddad (1936–2004), American translator and surtitler
Sonja Hanneborg (née Dedichen) (1902–1998), Norwegian scientist, student of Ellen Gleditsch and Marie Curie
Sonya Hartnett (born 1968), Australian writer
Sonja Henie (1912–1969), Norwegian figure skater and actress
Sonja Hilmer (born 1999), American figure skater
Sonia Holleyman, British creator, author and illustrator of Mona the Vampire
Sonia E. Howe (1871–19??), Russian essayist
Sonia de Ignacio (born 1971), Spanish field hockey player
Sonia Ilinskagia (1938–2024), Greek-Russian writer, translator and professor
Sonya Isaacs (born 1974), American country/Christian music singer-songwriter
Sonya Jeyaseelan, Canadian tennis player
Sonia Kacem (born 1985), Swiss visual artist
Sonja Kokkonen (born 1996), Finnish rhythmic gymnast
Sonja Koppitz (born 1981), German radio presenter
Sonya Koshkina (born 1985), Ukrainian journalist, editor-in-chief
Sonja Kovač (born 1984), Croatian actress and model
Sonja Kristina (born Sonia Christina Shaw), English singer, vocalist for Curved Air
Sonija Kwok (born 1974), Hong Kong actress
Sonja Lang, Canadian linguist who constructed the language Toki Pona
Sonia Lo (born 1992), Hong Kong windsurfer
Sonia Manzano, American actress
Sonia Mazey (born 1958), New Zealand political science academic
Sonja McCullen, American judge
Sonja Morgan, American television personality, The Real Housewives of New York City
Sonia McMahon (1932–2010), Australian socialite, widow of William McMahon
Sónia Ndoniema (born 1985), Angolan basketball player.
Sonia Singh (born 1964), Indian television actress
Sonia O'Sullivan (born 1969), Irish athlete
Sonia Opoku, Ghanaian footballer
Sonia Peres (1923–2011), wife of Israel's Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres
Sonia Purnell, British writer and journalist
Sonia Raman (born 1974), American basketball coach
Sonia Rutstein, American musician of the band Disappear Fear
Sonia Rykiel (1930–2016), French designer
Sonja Savić (1961–2008), Serbian actress
Sonya Scarlet (born 1980), singer of Italian band Theatres des Vampires
Sonja Smets, Belgian and Dutch logician
Sonia Sotomayor (born 1954), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Sonia Steinsapir (1912–1980), Russian-born artist, archivist
Sonja Tate (born 1971), American basketball player
Sonia Taverner (1936–2018), English-born Canadian ballet dancer
Sonya Tayeh, American dancer and choreographer
Sonya Tayurskaya (born 1991), Russian singer, member of Little Big
Sonia Theodoridou (born 1958), Greek soprano singer
Sonja Vasić (née Petrović; born 1989), Serbian basketball player
Sonya Walger (born 1974), English actress best known as Lost's Penny Widmore
Sonja Zhenikhova (born 2008), German tennis player
Zonja Wallen-Lawrence (1892–1986), Swedish-American biochemist, nutritionist
Fictional characters
Red Sonja, archetypal fierce and beautiful barbarian
Sonja in the Underworld series of vampire films
Sonya Blade in the Mortal Kombat series of video games
Sonia Fowler in British soap opera EastEnders
Sonya Herfmann, also known as Chanel #2, in the television series Scream Queens
Sonya Rebecchi in the Australian soap opera Neighbours
Sonya Rostova, character in War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and the musical based on it, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Sonya Simonson, an adaptation of Beautiful Dreamer in The Gifted
Sonia Strumm, rock star in the Mega Man Star Force series of video games
Pen name
Sonia, pen name of the Italian journalist Ottavia Vitagliano