Tonya is an American diminutive of Antonia — from the Latin gens name *Antonius* ("priceless, praiseworthy") — also influenced by the Russian Tonya (short for Antonina). **A top-100 US baby name from 1968 to 1978, peaking at #58 in 1972**. **Tonya Harding (born 1970)** — **American figure skater; the first American woman to land a triple Axel in competition (1991 US Championships) and the second woman in history to do so; 1991 US National Champion; 1991 World Championship silver medalist; two-time Olympian (1992, 1994)**. **Central figure in the 1994 attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan — orchestrated by Harding's ex-husband and bodyguard — one of the most-covered sports scandals of the 20th century**. **The story was dramatized in *I, Tonya* (2017), for which Allison Janney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Margot Robbie (as Harding) was nominated for Best Actress**. **Tonya Lewis Lee (born 1966)** — American producer and author; wife of Spike Lee. **Tonya Pinkins (born 1962)** — Tony Award-winning Broadway actress (*Jelly's Last Jam*, 1992). **Tonya Mosley** — co-host of NPR's *Fresh Air*. **Tonya in *Doctor Zhivago*** is *Tonya Gromeko*, Zhivago's wife.
Featured throughout late-20th-century American sports history.
Tonya reduces to one — the number of the triple Axel first.