Tanya or Tania 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 Tatiana "Tanya" Larina (who is rarely named by the short name in the poem).
In Zimbabwe, Tanya is commonly used as a feminine given name and is often a shortened form of the Shona name Tanyaradzwa, which means "we have been comforted" or "we have been consoled". The name is typically given in times of emotional healing or recovery. Notable Zimbabwean figures with this name include British–Zimbabwean actress Tanyaradzwa "Tanya" Fear and motocross champion Tanyaradzwa "Tanya" Muzinda.
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.
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Notable people with the name
Lara Saint Paul, born Silvana Savorelli (1945–2018), also known as Tanya, Italian-Eritrean singer, entertainer and record producer
Tanya Acosta (born 1991), Argentine volleyball player
Tanya Aguiñiga (born 1978), Mexican-American artist, designer, and activist
Tanya Atwater (born 1942), American geophysicist and marine geologist
Tanya Bardsley (born 1981), English model and reality television personality
Tanya Bertoldi (born 1986), Argentine politician
Tanya Jones Bosier (born 1973), American lawyer and judge
Tanya Boychuk (born 2000), Canadian soccer player
Tanya Burgoyne, American politician
Tanya Burr (born 1989), English vlogger and blogger
Tanya Byron (born 1967), British psychologist
Tanya Chan (born 1971), Hong Kong politician
Tanya Chisholm (born 1983), American actress and dancer
Tanya Christiansen, American mathematician
Tanya Chua (born 1975), Singaporean singer and songwriter
Tanya Chutkan (born 1962), American lawyer and jurist
Tania Coleridge (born 1966), English model and actress
Tanya Compas, British activist
Tanya Diagileva (born 1991), Belarusian model
Tanya Donelly (born 1966), American musician
Tanya Dubnicoff (born 1969), Canadian track cyclist
Tanya Dziahileva (born 1991), Belarusian model
Tanya Flanagan, American politician
Tanya Fear (born 1989 as Tanyaradzwa Fear), British-Zimbabwean actress, writer, and filmmaker
Tanya Garcia (born 1981), Filipina television and film actress
Tanya Garcia-O'Brien (born 1973), American skyflyer
Tanya Haden (born 1971), American musician and artist
Tanya Hansen (born 1973), Norwegian pornographic actress
Tanya Harford (born 1958), South African tennis player
Tanya Hennessy (born 1985), Australian content creator, comedian, writer and television presenter
Tanya Hughes (born 1972), American high jumper
Tanya Hunks (born 1980), Canadian swimmer
Tanya Nicole Kach (born 1981), American kidnapping victim
Tanya Kappo, Canadian lawyer and Indigenous rights activist
Tanya Lokshina (born 1973), Russian human rights activist
Tanya Maniktala (born 1997), Indian actress
Tanya Mercado (also known as Gina Lynn) (born 1974), Puerto Rican pornographic actress
Tanya Moodie (born 1972), Canadian-British actress
Tanya Moore (1955–1986), American murder victim
Tanya Zolotoroff Nash (1898–1987), Ukrainian-American Jewish Deaf rights activist
Tanya Neiman (1949–2006), American lawyer and activist
Tanya Oxley (born 1979), Barbadian track and field sprinter
Tanya Petty, German ten-pin bowler
Tanya Plibersek (born 1969), Australian politician
Tanya Ravichandran (born 1996), Indian actress
Tanya Reynolds (born 1991), English actress
Tanya Roberts (1949–2021), American actress
Tanya Ryno (born 1970), American television producer and businesswoman
Tanya Savicheva (1930–1944), Russian diarist and victim of the Siege of Leningrad
Tanya Sharma (born 1995), Indian television actress
Tanya Simon, American television producer
Tanya Snyder (born 1967), American businesswoman
Tanya Stephens (born 1973), Jamaican singer and deejay
Tanya Lee Stone (born 1965), American author
Tanya Streeter (born 1973), British-Caymanian-American freediver
Tanya Tagaq (born 1975), Canadian Inuk throat singer
Tanya Tate (born 1979), English model and pornographic actress
Tanya Taylor, Canadian fashion designer
Tanya Trotter, American actress, musician and author
Tanya Tucker (born 1958), American country music singer
Tanya Ury (born 1951), German activist, author and artist
Tanya Van Court, American executive and CEO
Tanya Vyhovsky, American social worker and politician
Tanya Waqanika, Fijian politician
Tanya Warren (born 1965), American basketball coach
Tanya Wexler (born 1970), American film director
Tanya Woo, American politician
Tanya Wright (born 1971), American actress
Tanya Zanish-Belcher, American archivist
Tanya Zelevinsky, American scientist
Fictional characters
Tanya, character in the Mortal Kombat universe
Agent Tanya Adams, soldier in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert video game series
Tanya Grotter, a character in a Russian fantasy novel series by Dmitri Yemets
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
