The Baby Name Wizard

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I was given this name in the early 70s when I was born on the west coast in the US. This is a Russian name and the j is pronounced like "sonja" (sohn'YA) -- a Russian name more people are familiar with. As a child, both peers and adults could never pronounce it correctly. American's are not used to the letter j sounding like a y. Hearing "tohn'JA" makes my skin crawl -- when I was in early grade school I started writing my name "tonya" for the benefit of others. Now all of my legal documents, credit cards, etc reflect one or the other of the names. As an adult, I'd be happy to use Tonja, but the irritation of hearing it mispronounced is so significant that I can't. People's first inclination on spelling the name "tonya" is to use an "a" - "tanya". Since the most memorable Tonya this century has been Tonya Harding, more people are now able to spell it correctly on the first try. I have worked with people who for months on end will address me as "tanya" in emails or on organizational charts, phone systems, etc.

Later in life, I moved outside of an urban area and found "tonya" to be popular name particularly with African American girls. This seems true for television characters as well. Overall, I like my name - it's a great name to have, especially coming out of high school. When I was young, I wanted to be a "jennifer" or "elizabeth" so badly and find my name on personalized keychains, etc; my mother intentionally gave me a common middle name in case I felt that way in my future. I've always felt very connected to the unique name and wanted to never change it. In my twenties, males typically received it as a very sexy name and would often asked if I had made it up. People with accents tend to pronounce it "tawn'ee'ah" which is cute.

I work in highly professional large companies and have seen the name evoke someone more on the worldly side, little mysterious, professional and skews a little young. I rarely share what I term as my legal name (Tonja) with anyone outside of HR and just use Tonya. When my legal spelling does come up, I say it's pronounced like Sonja, then I'm asked if I'm Russian. People familiar with the name and familar with Eastern European and European names immediately assume I'm Russian. Although I am from European decent, I'm not Russian. I think it's a beautiful name and is a nice accessory to the whole package -- I'm very thankful my name is not Jennifer or Elizabeth, but I still do with I could find the occasional personalized key chain :)

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Meanings and history of the name Tonja: | Edit

Russian origin.

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