Soon-ja
Soon-ja, also spelled Sun-ja, is a Korean given name. According to South Korean government data it was the seventh-most popular name for baby girls in 1940. It is one of a number of Japanese-style names ending in "ja", like Young-ja and Jeong-ja, that were popular when Korea was under Japanese rule, but declined in popularity afterwards. By 1950 there were no names ending in "ja" in the top ten. The same characters correspond to a number of Japanese female given names, including the on'yomi reading Junko and the kun'yomi readings Ayako, Masako, Michiko, Nobuko, and Yoshiko.
People with this name include:
- Soon Ja Du, South Korean-born American convenience store owner
- Jeong Sun-ja, South Korean diver
- Kim Sun-ja (athlete), South Korean sprinter
- Lee Soon-ja, South Korean former first lady, wife of Chun Doo-hwan
- Lee Sun-ja, South Korean sprint canoer
- Park Soon-ja, South Korean former field hockey player