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Well, Sonja isn't my preferred spelling and I personally wouldn't use it, but I think the majority of people in the US realize that '-ja' names are just un-Anglicized spellings that are pronounced '-ya'. I wouldn't blink twice at a KAHT-yah spelled 'Katja', and I think anyone silly enough to try to pronounce it KAHT-juh would be the one who'd end up embarrassed. The same goes for anyone who'd try to pronounce Sonja SAWN-juh. Then again, it is possible that I'm giving the general populace too much credit here.

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I agree that it would be a challenge to get most English-speakers to say ZONN-yah, as that pronunciation is particularly unintuitive from an English-speaking perspective.