Sue
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “lily (Hebrew shoshanna)”
Sue is given to girls far more often — 144,536 girls against 519 boys since 1880. See Sue as a girl name
Sue is the one-syllable end of a long road that starts with the Hebrew Shoshanna and runs through Susanna and Susan. It has two unusually vivid modern stories: Shel Silverstein's song about a father who names his son Sue, and a Tyrannosaurus rex in Chicago named for the woman who found it.
How old is the name Sue?
Sue first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Sue alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 300 people named Sue are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sue most popular?
Sue peaked in 1943, reaching #1636 nationally. See the whole 1943 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Shoshanna (Hebrew) to Sue
The story of Sue
Susanna entered Christian naming through the story of Susanna and the elders, and English wore it down to Susan and then Sue. In 1969 Johnny Cash recorded Shel Silverstein's song A Boy Named Sue, in which a father gives his son the name so he will grow up tough, and the son spends years hunting him down for it. In 1990 the fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson found one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever uncovered, in South Dakota; it was named Sue after her and now stands in Chicago's Field Museum.
Meaningscholars disagree
lily (Hebrew shoshanna)
Sue shortens Susan and Susanna, from the Hebrew Shoshanna. The word is usually translated 'lily'; it has also been traced to an Egyptian word for the water lily, or lotus, and which flower the Bible means cannot be fixed.
How the name formed
- ShoshannaHebrew
- SusannaGreek and Latin
- SusanEnglish
- Sue
Related forms: Shoshana · Suzanne · Susana · Susanne
Pronouncing Sue
SOO
One syllable, rhyming with blue.
Nicknames for Sue
Limited
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 194319 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1636reached in 1943
- Change vs 1994
- +22.2%11 in 1996, 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.
Sue in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shoshana in Hebrew — transliteration
- Suzanne in French — related form
- Susana in Spanish — related form
- Susanne in German — related form
Sues among us
people named Sue are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Sue sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Impossible to misspell or mispronounce.
- Works alone or as the short form of Susan, Susanna or Suzanne.
- Two memorable namesakes, a song and a dinosaur, that make easy conversation.
- It is spelled like the legal verb, and the pun will come up.
- It is given to boys only rarely, and a boy called Sue will have the Johnny Cash song quoted at him often.
- On its own it is best known among women of earlier generations, usually as a short form.
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Sue
Masculine · Hebrew roots
Frequently asked
- How many Sues are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Sue are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sue in 2025?
- Sue is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Sue with classmates?
- Sue will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Steven#271 · Stephen#383 · Samuel#18 · Scott#534 · Sean#489 · Shawn#681 · Stanley#863 · Steve#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sue? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sue and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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