Tanya (name)

Tanya is the Slavic hypocoristic of Tatiana. It is commonly used as an independent given name in the English-speaking world. The name's popularity among English-speakers (and other non-Slavs) was originally due to the popularity of Alexander Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin, whose heroine is named Tatiana "Tanya" Larina (who is rarely named by the short name in the poem). Some people also claim that the popularity of "Tanya" in Anglophone world is due to Ukrainian emigrees to Canada, who escaped Ukraine during the Civil War of 1918-20.

Variants include Tania (Ukrainian, Romanian ); Tanja (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Norwegian, German, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Dutch, Slovene and Macedonian); Táňa (Czech); Tânia; (Portuguese); and Taanya (Levant and Indian subcontinent).

As of 2010 it was the 237th most common name in the United States, according to namestatistics.com, which uses US Census data.

People with the name

 * Lara Saint Paul, born Silvana Savorelli (1945–2018), also known as Tanya, Italian Eritrean singer, entertainer and record producer
 * Major Tanya, stage name of Noelle Rose, professional wrestler from the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling
 * Tanya Acosta (born 1991), Argentine volleyball player
 * Tanya Bertoldi (born 1986), Argentine politician
 * Tanya Burr (born 1989), English vlogger and blogger
 * Tanya Byron (born 1967), a British psychologist
 * Tanya Chan (born 1971), a legislator in Hong Kong
 * Tanya Chisholm (born 1983), American actress and dancer
 * Tanya Christiansen, American mathematician
 * Tanya Chua (born 1975), a singer in Singapore
 * Tania Coleridge (born 1966), British model/Girl in Father Figure music video
 * Tanya Compas, British activist
 * Tanya Donelly (born 1966), singer/guitarist for Throwing Muses, The Breeders, and Belly
 * Tanya Dubnicoff (born 1969), Canadian track cyclist
 * Tanya Dziahileva (born 1991), Belarusian model
 * Tanya Garcia (born 1981), Filipina television and film actress
 * Tanya Haden (born 1971), daughter of jazz double bassist Charlie Haden, wife of actor Jack Black
 * Tanya Hansen (born 1973), Norwegian pornographic actress.
 * Tanya Hughes (born 1972), American high jumper
 * Tanya Hunks (born 1980), Canadian swimmer
 * Tanya Kappo, Canadian lawyer and Indigenous rights activist
 * Tanya Mercado (as known as Gina Lynn) (born 1974), Puerto Rican pornographic actress
 * Tanya Moore (1955–1986), American murder victim
 * Tanya Oxley (born 1979), Barbadian track and field sprinter
 * Tanya Plibersek (born 1969), Australian politician and Minister for Health
 * Tanya Ravichandran, Indian actress
 * Tanya Roberts (1949–2021), actress
 * Tanya Ryno, producer
 * Tanya Savicheva (1930–1944), Russian child diarist who died in 1944 during the Siege of Leningrad
 * Tanya Snyder (born 1967), American businesswoman
 * Tanya Tagaq (born 1975), Canadian Inuk throat singer
 * Tanya Tate (born 1979), a US-UK porno actress
 * Tanya Taylor, Canadian fashion designer
 * Tanya Tucker (born 1958), American country music singer

Fictional characters

 * Tan-ya, main character in Korean fantasy/mythology Arthdal Chronicles, foretold to be the direct descendant of a goddess
 * Tanya, character in Jacqueline Wilson novel Bad Girls
 * Tanya, character in the Mortal Kombat universe
 * Agent Tanya Adams, soldier in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert video game series
 * Tanya Adeola, a character from the television show Class
 * Tanya Branning, in the British TV soap opera EastEnders
 * Tanya Mousekewitz, from the film An American Tail
 * Tanya Robertson, from the movie Sleepwalkers
 * Tanya Sloan, character from Power Rangers Turbo
 * Tanya Turner, lead character on the ITV drama Footballers Wives
 * Tanya von Degurechaff, main character in the light novel, manga, and anime series The Saga of Tanya the Evil