Ronya
A feminine Scandinavian name derived from an Old Norse word meaning "delightful maiden".
Name Census estimates that about 241 living Americans carry the first name Ronya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ronya today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ronya births was 1973 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ronya. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ronya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
241
~ 1 in 1,422,217 Americans
Peak year
1973
13 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2014 SSA rank
#16,137
Tracked since 1965
Census
Ronya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 324 people with the first name Ronya, which placed it at #27,953 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#27,953
National first-name rank
People counted
324
324 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ronya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ronya is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Black (35.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ronya described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ronya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.7% · 174
- Black or African American35.8% · 116
- Two or more races3.1% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 6
Popularity
Ronya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ronya from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 91 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ronya by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ronya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ronyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ronya
The given name Ronya is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic people in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe during the Viking Age and medieval period. The name is derived from the Old Norse word "rún," which means "secret lore" or "mystery." It is closely related to the modern Scandinavian words for "rune," such as "runa" in Swedish and "rune" in Norwegian and Danish.
The name Ronya may have been inspired by the ancient runic alphabets used for writing in Germanic languages, which were considered to hold mystical and magical properties. The runes were not only used for writing but also for divination, magic, and religious rituals. As such, the name Ronya could have been associated with knowledge, wisdom, and a connection to the ancient traditions and beliefs of the Norse people.
While the exact origins of the name Ronya are unclear, it appears to have been in use among the Norse peoples from an early period. However, it is not widely documented in historical records or ancient texts, suggesting that it may have been a relatively uncommon name during those times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ronya is found in the Icelandic Landnámabók (Book of Settlements), which dates back to the 12th century. The book mentions a woman named Ronya who was one of the early settlers in Iceland during the Viking Age.
Over the centuries, the name Ronya has been borne by several notable individuals, although it has remained relatively rare compared to other Scandinavian names. One example is Ronya Othilie Petersson (1856-1928), a Swedish author and feminist activist who wrote under the pen name Esselde.
Another notable bearer of the name was Ronya Bagratuni (986-1020), an Armenian princess and regent of the Kingdom of Vaspurakan. She played a significant role in the political and military affairs of her time, defending her kingdom against invading forces.
In the 20th century, the name gained additional recognition through the character Ronja Rövardotter (Ronia the Robber's Daughter) from the 1981 children's fantasy book by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.
Other historical figures with the name Ronya include Ronya Kleinitz (1905-1989), a German artist and sculptor known for her abstract works, and Ronya Kozmetska (born 1987), a Ukrainian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Ukraine Universe in 2008.
While the name Ronya is still relatively uncommon globally, it has maintained a presence in Scandinavian countries, particularly in Sweden and Norway, where it is sometimes given as a nod to the region's rich Norse heritage and cultural traditions.
People
Ronya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ronya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ronya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ronya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 241 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ronya going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,422,217 US residents.
Is Ronya a common name?
We classify Ronya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ronya most popular?
The single biggest year for Ronya was 1973, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ronya is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ronya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 324 people with the name Ronya, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,953 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ronya in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ronya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ronya leans strongly female. 299 people counted with this name were female (94.0%), compared with 19 male bearers (6.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ronya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ronya is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Black (35.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ronya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ronya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (174 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ronya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ronya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ronya in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ronya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ronya in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ronya can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Ronya?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Ronya, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.