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Sonji vs Sonnie

American parents have registered 1,630 Sonnies since 1880, against 904 Sonjis. Sonnie is still ahead, with 41 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Sonji against Sonnie, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Sonji Sonnie

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 118 years in which either name was published, Sonnie for 103 years and Sonji for 15 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Sonji Sonnie
Total US births 9041,630
Most in one year 22542
Babies in 2025 under 541
Estimated living today 8201,200
Median age today 5831
Peak year 19662023
Best rank 639th girls4,610th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked6,446th
First recorded 19511893
Girls / boys 904 / 0751 / 879

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Sonjis alive today are over 58; half the Sonnies are over 31. That is 27 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Sonji and Sonnie.