Somaya
Feminine · “Arabic”
The first person to die for Islam was an enslaved woman. Sumayya bint Khayyat was tortured in Mecca for refusing to renounce her faith and was killed — the first martyr of the religion, before any of its battles, and one of its earliest converts.
How old is the name Somaya?
Somaya first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Somaya alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,000 people named Somaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Somaya most popular?
Somaya peaked in 2012, reaching #1188 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 6,697 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Sumayya to Somaya
The story of Somaya
The earliest Muslim community in Mecca included a substantial number of enslaved people and people without tribal protection, which is precisely why they could be persecuted — a person with a powerful clan behind them could not be attacked without consequence. Sumayya, her husband Yasir and their son Ammar were among them; she and her husband were killed and Ammar survived to become a companion of the Prophet and a figure in the early conflicts. That two of the community's most honored early figures — Sumayya and Bilal, the first muezzin — were enslaved is part of how the tradition presents its own beginnings. The American figures for Somaya peak in 2012.
Meaningscholars disagree
Arabic, a diminutive of a word for height or elevation
Sumayya is generally understood as a diminutive formed from a root carrying height or elevation, though the derivation is not fully settled. The name belongs to Sumayya bint Khayyat, an enslaved woman in Mecca who was among the first converts to Islam and the first person killed for it. Somaya, Sumaya and Sumayyah are transliterations of the same name.
How the name formed
- Sumayya
- Somaya
Related forms: سمية · Sumaya · Sümeyye
Pronouncing Somaya
soo-MY-yah
Three syllables, stress on the second, with the doubled y held slightly in Arabic. English speakers usually say soh-MY-uh, which is close.
Nicknames for Somaya
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
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 2012207 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1188reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −40.9%13 in 2025, from 22
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.
Somaya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سمية in Arabic — transliteration
- Sumaya in English — spelling variant
- Sümeyye in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Somayas among us
people named Somaya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Somaya
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 Maryalice test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Somaya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maryalice climbed just as high around 1944, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maryalice's path sketches the road Somaya is walking now.
Somaya 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
Somaya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Somaya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries a specific and highly honored historical figure.
- Maya is an immediate short form and a common name of its own.
- It is soft, three syllables and easy for English speakers to say.
- Sumaya and Sumayyah are competing transliterations.
- The derivation of the name itself is not fully settled.
- It is rare in the United States and will need spelling out.
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What they receive
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Somaya
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Somayas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Somaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Somaya in 2025?
- Somaya ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Somaya?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Somaya — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Somaya with classmates?
- Somaya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Somaya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Somaya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Somaya and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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