Ronja

Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Ronja has been given to 63 babies in the U.S. since 1970. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2016, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Ronja, 2023

1 in 552,000

Ronja over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ronja: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Swedish and Russian

What Ronja means

Ronja has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

* Borrowed from Swedish Ronja, from the book of Lindgren. * Transliteration of Russian Роня (Ronja), diminutive of Вероника (Veronika).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Ronja (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Ronja is used in English, Faroese, Finnish, German, Norwegian and Swedish. Its origins include Swedish and Russian.

Ronja comes through Russian Роня.

Ronja is a modern formation.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Роня, Вероника and Ronia.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Ronja is pronounced /ˈronjɑ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 63 girls were recorded with the name Ronja between 1970 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 9 in 2016; its best national rank was #8,998 in 1970.

How common is Ronja?

Ronja had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023: 1 in 552,000; 6 of 3,314,783 births
Among girls only: 1 in 267,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 382,940 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Ronja sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2023 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 382,940 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ronja. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ronjas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ronja was born before 2017 — so the typical Ronja is around 8 today.

Median birth year: 2017; About 8 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 47.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 92.1%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 63; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 47.6% of all recorded uses (30).

Is Ronja rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 2016 (9)
Years since peak: 9; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 14.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #8,998; 1970

Spellings of Ronja

Ronja is not the most common spelling — Donna is, with 44.8% against Ronja's <0.01%.

Donna44.8%831,641
Rhonda11.2%208,069
Rosa9.6%177,415
Tonya6.5%120,421
Sonia3.6%66,747
Sonya3.5%65,772
Mona2.5%45,787
Sonja2.1%39,513

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Ronja around the world

Where Ronja ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
2004–2024
#4,193
in 2024
Norway
1880–2025
#74
in 2025
South Australia
2013–2013
#818
in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Norway and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Ronja by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #8,998; 1970
Peak year: 2016; 9 that year
First recorded: 1970
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 63
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Ronja

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Ronak Ronin Ronia Ronne Ronan Rondia Ronae Ronza Ronnee Ronea Ronice Ronata Ronie Ronada Ronnae Ronya Ronnye Kenja Ronella Roneka Ronnett Zenja Rondell Roniqua

Sibling names for Ronja

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Karleigh Hadlee Heavenly Scarlette Ayesha Henley Annalee Aviana

For a brother

Smith Damari Kye Canaan Vladimir Cayson Hamilton Kingsley

Explore around Ronja

Top names of 2016, Ronja's peak year The 2010s in full Other names that peaked in 1970 Girls' names starting with R Uncommon Swedish Girl Names