Sufyan
Masculine · “swift”
Sufyan is a companion's name from early Islam, and the Arabic root is generally read as swift or thin.
How old is the name Sufyan?
Sufyan first appears in US birth records in 1987 — 38 years ago. The typical Sufyan is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Sufyan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sufyan most popular?
Sufyan peaked in 2025, reaching #2230 nationally. Today it ranks #2230, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Sufyan
Abu Sufyan led Meccan opposition to the Prophet for years and then accepted Islam at the conquest of Mecca; his descendants founded the Umayyad caliphate. Sufyan al-Thawri was a major eighth-century jurist and hadith scholar. The name is in current American use.
Meaningscholars disagree
swift, slender
The Arabic Sufyan is generally read from a root meaning 'swift' or 'thin', though the derivation is not firmly established. It is chiefly known through Abu Sufyan and the scholar Sufyan al-Thawri. The name is documented; the meaning is not fully settled.
Pronouncing Sufyan
SOOF-yahn
Two syllables, stress on the first. Arabic gives the y a fuller glide.
Nicknames for Sufyan
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
- 1987
- Most boys named
- 202563 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2230reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +37.0%63 in 2025, from 46
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.
Sufyan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سفيان in Arabic — transliteration
- Sufyan in Urdu — same name
- Sufiyan in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Sufyans among us
people named Sufyan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 27,112 born in 2025 was named Sufyan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sufyan
- #2230
- Sufyan on the 2025 chart
- #821
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sufyan went to 63 boys in 2025, but Sufiyan, Sufian and Sufyaan are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 107, which makes it the 821st most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,409 places above the chart.
- Sufyan63
- Sufiyan27
- Sufian11
- Sufyaan6
About 1 boy in 15,963 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 27,112 for Sufyan 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 Naomi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sufyan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Naomi climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Naomi's path sketches the road Sufyan is walking now.
Sufyan 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
Where Sufyan is headed
Sufyan looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% 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.
Sufyan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sufyan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A major eighth-century jurist carries it.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
- It is genuinely distinctive in American use.
- The meaning is not firmly established.
- Abu Sufyan opposed the Prophet before converting, which some weigh.
- It reads as specifically Muslim.
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Sufyan
Masculine · #2230 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sufyans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Sufyan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sufyan?
- Sufyan is the most-used spelling in US records — 63 of the 107 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Sufiyan, Sufian and Sufyaan.
- How popular is the name Sufyan in 2025?
- Sufyan ranks #2230 among US boy names in 2025, with 63 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sufyan?
- About 1 in every 27,112 US boys born in 2025 was named Sufyan — 63 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sufyan with classmates?
- Sufyan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sufyan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rayaan#2230 · Tyce#2230 · Earl#2230 · Gene#2230 · Sylis#2230 · Vinny#2230 · Klaus#2230 · Damoni#2230
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sufyan? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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