Shoshanna
Feminine · “Hebrew shoshan”
The story of Susanna is arguably the first detective story in Western literature. Two elders accuse a woman falsely; Daniel separates them and asks each under which tree the offense happened; they name different trees and the case collapses.
How old is the name Shoshanna?
Shoshanna first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Shoshanna alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 800 people named Shoshanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shoshanna most popular?
Shoshanna peaked in 1980, reaching #3215 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 6,892 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From shoshannah to Shoshanna
The story of Shoshanna
The book of Susanna survives as an addition to Daniel in the Greek Bible, is canonical for Catholic and Orthodox Christians and appears in the Apocrypha for Protestants. Its plot is a courtroom reversal: Susanna is condemned on the testimony of two respected elders, Daniel intervenes before the execution, insists the witnesses be examined separately, and asks each the same question about a detail. Their answers do not match, the perjury is exposed and the sentence is reversed onto the accusers. The passage was cited for centuries in discussions of cross-examination, and it is the reason Susanna appears so often in painting. The name itself is a flower, and the same Hebrew word stands behind Susan, Suzanne, Zuzana and Shoshana across a dozen languages.
Meaning
Hebrew shoshan, a lily or lotus
From Hebrew shoshan or shoshannah, a lily, possibly originally a lotus, and related to the Egyptian word for the flower. The Greek form Susanna gave the English Susan. Shoshanna is a modern transliteration of the Hebrew; the American peak is 1980.
How the name formed
- shoshannah
- Sousanna
- Susanna
- Shoshanna
Related forms: Shoshana · Susanna · Zuzana
Pronouncing Shoshanna
shoh-SHAH-nah
Three syllables, stress on the second in American use; Hebrew stresses the last. The doubled n is a transliteration choice.
Nicknames for Shoshanna
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1960
- Most girls named
- 198026 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3215reached in 1980
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Shoshanna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shoshana in Hebrew — spelling variant
- Susanna in English — same name
- Zuzana in Czech — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois.
Shoshannas among us
people named Shoshanna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Shoshanna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Shoshanna
- #10107
- Shoshanna on the 2025 chart
- #828
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Shoshanna went to 9 girls in 2025, but Shoshana is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 132, which makes it the 828th most-given girls’ name of the year — 9,279 places above the chart.
- Shoshana123
- Shoshanna9
About 1 girl in 12,176 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 178,585 for Shoshanna itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Isaac test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shoshanna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Isaac climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Isaac's path sketches the road Shoshanna is walking now.
Shoshanna sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Shoshanna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shoshanna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Shoshi and Shosh are distinctive short forms.
- The Hebrew meaning is documented and concrete.
- Susanna and Susan are available as more familiar forms.
- Shoshana is the more common transliteration.
- Three syllables plus a surname makes a long full name.
- American and Hebrew stress patterns differ.
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What they receive
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Shoshanna
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shoshannas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Shoshanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Shoshanna?
- Shoshanna is one of 2 recorded spellings. Shoshana is the more common one — 123 births in 2025 against 9 for Shoshanna.
- How popular is the name Shoshanna in 2025?
- Shoshanna ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shoshanna?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Shoshanna — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shoshanna with classmates?
- Shoshanna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shoshanna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shoshanna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shoshanna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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