Find out how popular the last name Sony is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Sony.

Sony, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Sony surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sony in America

Sony is the 100302nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sony surname appeared 180 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Sony.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sony to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Sony

The surname "SONY" is a modern name that was created by the Japanese company Sony Corporation in the mid-20th century. It is an invented name rather than a traditional surname.

The name "SONY" was derived from the Latin word "sonus" meaning "sound" and the English slang term "sonny" meaning "bright youngster". The company chose this name as it sought to represent the fusion of sound and innovation in their products.

The word "SONY" itself does not have any ancient historical roots or references. It was coined by the company's founders, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, in 1946 when they established the Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) which later became known as Sony Corporation.

There are no known individuals throughout history who bore the surname "SONY" prior to the establishment of the company. The name was created specifically for the company's branding purposes and did not exist as a traditional surname.

While the name "SONY" is a modern invention, it has become one of the most recognizable brand names globally, associated with the company's innovative electronics and entertainment products. Some notable individuals associated with the Sony Corporation include Masaru Ibuka (1908-1997) and Akio Morita (1921-1999), the company's founders, as well as Norio Ohga (1930-2011), who served as Sony's president and chairman.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sony

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Sony.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Sony was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Sony has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Sony was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Sony, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!