Sonia (name)

Sonia
Pronunciation /ˈsɒniə/[1] SO-ni-ə
Gender Feminine
Language(s) Russian, Hindi, English
Origin
Meaning Wisdom, golden
Region of origin Russia
India
Other names
Related names Sophia
Look up Sonia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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 Russian variations on Sophia, a Greek name meaning "wisdom".[2] The name was popularised by a 1917 bestselling novel, Sonia: Between Two Worlds, by Stephen McKenna.[2]

In Hindi, the name means "golden", derived from सोना sonāa "gold", from Sanskrit सुवर्ण suvarṇa (su "good" + varṇa "color").

Sonya and its variations are occasionally found as surnames in England and the American eastern seaboard.

First name

The name appears in multiple languages including Bengali, Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, English, Persian, Finnish, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Greece, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Macedonian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, and Ukrainian.

Sonia has many variant spellings and related name forms, among them Sonea, Sonja, Sonje, Sonni, Sonnie, Sonnjea, and Sonya. Slavic countries spell the name with the letter j: Sonja, while many English speaking countries spell it with i or y: Sonia or Sonya. These are only variations on the same name.

Although the most common English pronunciation is /ˈsɒniə/, /ˈsɒnjə/, /ˈsoʊniə/, and /ˈsoʊnjə/ are also possible.[1]

As a last name

Sonya is an uncommon surname of English origin. Spelling variations include Sonning, Sonnin, Sonin, Soning, Sunning, Sunin, Souning, Sounin, Sonninges, Somin and Somings. The surname Sonya was first located in Berkshire where they were anciently seated as Lords of the Manor. Some of the first American settlers named Sonya or some of its variants migrated in the mid-17th century to the eastern seaboard. Migrants eventually settled in Newfoundland, Maine, Virginia, The Carolinas and the islands.[3]

Notable people with this name

Fictional characters

Notes

  1. 1 2 Jones, Daniel; Gimson, Alfred C. (1977) [1917]. Everyman's English Pronunciation Dictionary. Everyman's Reference Library (14 ed.). London: J. M. Dent & Sons. ISBN 0-460-03029-9.
  2. 1 2 Martin-Doyle, Katie (1999). The Treasury of Baby Names. Cambridge: Worth Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-903025-11-6.
  3. ↑ "Sonya Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History". HouseOfNames.com. Swyrich Corporation. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
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