Sonoma
A place name referring to a valley in California, from a regional Native American language.
Name Census estimates that about 263 living Americans carry the first name Sonoma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sonoma today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sonoma births was 2007 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sonoma. 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.
People living today
263
~ 1 in 1,303,248 Americans
Peak year
2007
14 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,862
Tracked since 1979
Census
Sonoma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 267 people with the first name Sonoma, which placed it at #31,863 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
#31,863
National first-name rank
People counted
267
267 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sonoma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sonoma is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and Two or More Races (13.1%). 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 Sonoma 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 Sonoma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.8% · 157
- Hispanic or Latino15.7% · 42
- Two or more races13.1% · 35
- Black or African American7.5% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 4
Popularity
Sonoma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sonoma from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 96 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sonoma remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sonoma 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 Sonoma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sonomas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sonoma
The given name Sonoma has its origins in the indigenous languages of Northern California, specifically the Coast Miwok and Pomo languages spoken by Native American tribes in the region. It is believed to be derived from the word "sono-ma," which means "valley of the moon" or "valley of the strong winds" in these languages.
The name is closely associated with the Sonoma Valley, a picturesque region located in present-day Sonoma County, California. This area was originally inhabited by the Coast Miwok and Pomo tribes, who had settlements along the banks of the Sonoma Creek and the surrounding valleys for thousands of years before the arrival of European explorers.
While the name Sonoma does not appear in any ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been recorded in various historical documents related to the exploration and colonization of California. One of the earliest recorded instances is from 1823, when the Spanish missionary Padre José Altimira founded the Mission San Francisco Solano in the Sonoma Valley, naming it after St. Francis Solano.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Sonoma, though its usage has been primarily localized to the Western United States, particularly California. One of the earliest recorded examples is Sonoma Hoopa (1823-1891), a leader of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California, who played a crucial role in negotiating treaties with the United States government in the mid-19th century.
Another notable figure was Sonoma Guadalupe (1857-1940), a Yaqui Indian woman from Sonora, Mexico, who was captured and brought to Arizona as a child during the Yaqui Wars. She later became a prominent figure in the Yaqui community in Arizona, known for her efforts to preserve traditional Yaqui culture and language.
In more recent times, Sonoma Rasine (1937-2018) was a renowned Native American artist and educator from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She was known for her intricate beadwork and contributions to promoting and preserving Native American art and culture.
Sonoma Taleva (1951-2021) was a respected leader and activist from the Acoma Pueblo tribe in New Mexico. She dedicated her life to advocating for the rights and well-being of Native American communities, particularly in the areas of education and cultural preservation.
Finally, Sonoma Horne (1967-present) is a contemporary Navajo artist and sculptor based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her works, which often incorporate traditional Navajo techniques and materials, have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States.
People
Sonoma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sonoma as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sonoma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sonoma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sonoma 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 1,303,248 US residents.
Is Sonoma a common name?
We classify Sonoma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 266 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sonoma most popular?
The single biggest year for Sonoma was 2007, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sonoma is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sonoma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 267 people with the name Sonoma, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,863 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 Sonoma 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 Sonoma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sonoma leans strongly female. 259 people counted with this name were female (96.6%), compared with 9 male bearers (3.4%). 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 Sonoma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sonoma is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and Two or More Races (13.1%). 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 Sonoma most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sonoma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.8% (157 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 Sonoma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sonoma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sonoma 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 Sonoma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sonoma 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 Sonoma 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 Americans are named Sonoma?
See how many people share the name Sonoma on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.