Soha
Feminine · “A faint star in the Great Bear”
Suha is a star, and a very particular one: the faint companion of Mizar in the Big Dipper, which Arab astronomers used as a test of eyesight. If you could see Suha, your vision was sound. It is a small, precise thing for a name to mean.
How old is the name Soha?
Soha first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Soha alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 800 people named Soha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Soha most popular?
Soha peaked in 2008, reaching #3120 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 2,118 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Where it comes from
From as-Suhā to Soha
The story of Soha
Arab astronomy named the sky in detail long before Europe did, and a great many English star names — Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Vega, Altair, Rigel — are Arabic words that passed through medieval Latin. Suhā did not make that crossing under its own name; the star is Alcor in English, itself a garbled Arabic borrowing. As a personal name Suha and Soha are used across the Arab world and in Turkey, and the Indian actress Soha Ali Khan has carried the spelling since the 2000s. American records show it thinly from the 1970s with Arab and South Asian immigration and a small peak in 2008.
Meaning
A faint star in the Great Bear
From Arabic as-Suhā, the traditional name of the star English astronomy calls Alcor, the dim companion of Mizar in the handle of the Plough. Classical Arabic sources use seeing it as a proverbial test of keen sight, and the word is connected to a root meaning to be forgotten or overlooked. The reading is settled in Arabic astronomical and lexical tradition.
How the name formed
- as-Suhā
- Suha
- Soha
Related forms: سهى · Süha · سہا · Suha
Pronouncing Soha
SOO-hah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Arabic gives the final vowel an alif maqsura, a long a written as a y, and the h is fully sounded between the two vowels.
Nicknames for Soha
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
- 1982
- Most girls named
- 200854 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3120reached in 2008
- Change vs 2024
- +26.3%24 in 2025, from 19
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.
Soha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سهى in Arabic — transliteration
- Süha in Turkish — spelling variant
- سہا in Urdu — same name
- Suha in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Sohas among us
people named Soha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Soha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Shareese test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Soha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shareese climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shareese's path sketches the road Soha is walking now.
Soha 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
Soha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Soha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, precise and genuinely charming — a star only sharp eyes can see.
- Four letters and two open syllables travel easily.
- Every sound in it exists in English.
- Soha and Suha are both in use and will be written for each other.
- English speakers often drop the middle h, giving SOH-uh.
- It is unfamiliar outside Arab and South Asian communities.
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What they receive
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Soha
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sohas 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 Soha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Soha in 2025?
- Soha ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Soha?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Soha — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Soha with classmates?
- Soha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Soha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Soha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Soha and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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