How Many People Are Named Sonny?
An estimated 19,097 people in the United States have the first name Sonny. It is predominantly male (95.6%). The average bearer is 31 years old, and Sonny peaked in popularity in 2024 with 1,096 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Sonny as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Sonny paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Sonny is overwhelmingly male, 974 female births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
19,097
About 1 in 17,948 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Male
95.6% confidence
Average Age
31
years old
Peak Year
2024
1,096 births
Total Registered
22,158
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Sonny
Sonny is predominantly male (95.6%), though 974 female births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Sonny as a male name
Ranked #335 in 2024
1,034 male births in 2024
Peak: 2024 (1,034 births)
Sonny as a female name
Ranked #2,761 in 2024
62 female births in 2024
Peak: 2023 (66 births)
Sonny: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Sonny span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2020s, when 4,079 babies were registered. Sonny remains highly popular today, with recent registration numbers near its historical peak.
Sonny by Decade
How has Sonny tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 7 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1890s | 32 | 32 | 0 | |
| 1900s | 87 | 87 | 0 | |
| 1910s | 183 | 183 | 0 | |
| 1920s | 386 | 386 | 0 | |
| 1930s | 1,084 | 1,084 | 0 | |
| 1940s | 1,207 | 1,201 | 6 | |
| 1950s | 1,333 | 1,309 | 24 | |
| 1960s | 1,430 | 1,413 | 17 | |
| 1970s | 2,587 | 2,518 | 69 | |
| 1980s | 2,409 | 2,288 | 121 | |
| 1990s | 1,961 | 1,838 | 123 | |
| 2000s | 2,335 | 2,231 | 104 | |
| 2010s | 3,038 | 2,806 | 232 | |
| 2020s | 4,079 | 3,801 | 278 | |
Sonny by State
Birth registrations for Sonny span all 46 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in New Hampshire, South Dakota, Rhode Island. On average, about 338 Sonnys were registered per state.
Sonny + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Sonny as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Sonny
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
Sonny: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sonny?
We estimate approximately 19,097 people named Sonny are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 17,948 Americans share this first name.
Is Sonny a common name?
Sonny is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.4% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 22,158 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Sonny most popular?
Sonny reached peak popularity in 2024, when 1,096 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Sonny is approximately 31 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Sonny a male name?
Sonny is predominantly male. 95.6% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Sonny Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Sonny Smith, Sonny Johnson, Sonny Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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