Ronja
A Germanic name that traveled into Scandinavian use, its meaning is "grouse lake". In Poland it stays rare: fewer than a hundred women carry it, and most Poles have never met one.
Ronja Pronunciation
Ronja is pronounced RON-yah (/ˈrɔnja/).
What Ronja means
Where Ronja comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ronja entered the naming books in 1981, when Astrid Lindgren published Ronja Rövardotter, the tale of a robber's daughter. Lindgren built the name from Juronjaure, a lake in Swedish Lapland, taking its middle sound and setting it loose as a girl's name. The Germanic form found a Scandinavian home. Its short meaning, grouse lake, points back to the water and the birds of the far north.
Before that book, Ronja barely existed. After it, the name spread across Sweden, Germany, Finland, and later Poland. It has no diminutives and no rival spellings. You meet it whole.
In a Polish class register, Ronja sits among the Zosias and Amelias as a clear import, spelled with a hard j that Polish readers pronounce as they see it. The lake stays in the meaning: grouse lake, jezioro cietrzewia.
How many people are named Ronja
1 in 289024 women in Poland is named Ronja. 78 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4036 among female names.
Ronja's popularity over time
3 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1340 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2023.
Where Ronja is most popular
Ronja is most popular in Pomeranian, 267% above the national average (2 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+205%) and Silesian (+137%).
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Pomeranian2 girls born+267%
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Masovian4 girls born+205%
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Silesian2 girls born+137%
Ronja as a middle name
Ronja is a first name for 78 women in Poland and a middle name for another 16, an 83/17 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1861st, between Romania (16) and Rosaria (16).
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#1859 Roisin16
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#1860 Romania16
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#1861 Ronja16
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#1862 Rosaria16
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#1863 Rufaro16