Solei
Feminine · “sun”
Solei respells Soleil, and the French for sun descends from a Latin diminutive — soliculus, little sun, which is what late Latin speakers actually said.
How old is the name Solei?
Solei first appears in US birth records in 1996 — 29 years ago. The typical Solei is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Solei are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Solei most popular?
Solei peaked in 2025, reaching #1867 nationally. Today it ranks #1867, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sol to Solei
The story of Solei
Late Latin used diminutives so freely that many Romance words descend from them rather than from the plain form — soliculus for sol, auricula for auris. Soleil entered American naming in the 2000s among the French word-names, and Solei is its simplified spelling. It appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
sun
Through the French soleil, from the late Latin soliculus, a diminutive of sol, 'sun'. Romance speakers preferred the diminutive, which is why French has soleil rather than a direct descendant of sol. The Latin is documented and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- sol
- soliculus
- soleil
- Solei
Related forms: Soleil · Sol · Sole
Pronouncing Solei
soh-LAY
Two syllables, stress on the second. French soleil is soh-LEY with a fuller final sound.
Nicknames for Solei
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
- 1996
- Most girls named
- 2025106 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1867reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +45.2%106 in 2025, from 73
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.
Solei in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Soleil in French — spelling variant
- Sol in Spanish — related form
- Sole in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Pennsylvania.
Soleis among us
people named Solei are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 15,163 born in 2025 was named Solei
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Solei
- #1867
- Solei on the 2025 chart
- #838
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Solei went to 106 girls in 2025, but Soley is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 122, which makes it the 838th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,029 places above the chart.
- Solei106
- Soley16
About 1 girl in 13,174 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,163 for Solei 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 Toniann test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Solei's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Toniann climbed just as high around 1963, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Toniann's path sketches the road Solei is walking now.
Solei is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Solei is headed
Solei looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 42% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Solei beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Solei in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The little-sun etymology is a genuinely good piece of Romance history.
- Sol is available as a short form that is a real Spanish name.
- The end stress gives it a strong rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- Soleil is the correct French spelling and will be assumed.
- The dropped l changes nothing in sound but everything on the page.
- It is very new as a given name.
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What they receive
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Solei
Feminine · #1867 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Soleis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Solei are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Solei?
- Solei is the most-used spelling in US records — 106 of the 122 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Soley.
- How popular is the name Solei in 2025?
- Solei ranks #1867 among US girl names in 2025, with 106 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Solei?
- About 1 in every 15,163 US girls born in 2025 was named Solei — 106 in all.
- Will my child share the name Solei with classmates?
- Solei will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Solei
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nairobi#1867 · Khalia#1867 · Kacie#1867 · Emilee#1867 · Rio#1872 · Judy#1872 · Kasey#1872 · Karmen#1872
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Solei? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Solei and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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