Suhaib
Masculine · “of reddish or sandy coloring”
Suhaib describes hair color: it is a diminutive of an Arabic word for reddish or sandy, and it belonged to one of the most interesting of the Prophet's Companions — a man raised in Byzantine captivity who bought his freedom, came to Mecca, and was called al-Rumi, the Roman. Its American peak is 2019.
How old is the name Suhaib?
Suhaib first appears in US birth records in 1991 — 34 years ago. The typical Suhaib is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Suhaib are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Suhaib most popular?
Suhaib peaked in 2019, reaching #3201 nationally. Today it ranks #6143, 2,942 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ashab to Suhaib
The story of Suhaib
Suhayb al-Rumi was born in Mesopotamia to an Arab family, taken captive as a child in the Byzantine wars, raised in Greek-speaking territory, and sold as a slave; he bought his freedom, became a merchant in Mecca, and was among the early converts to Islam. His nickname, the Roman, reflects the accent and manner he had acquired. When he emigrated to Medina, tradition holds that he gave away his entire fortune to be allowed to leave. The name has been used across the Muslim world since, and American records show it rising with Arab and South Asian migration, peaking in 2019.
Meaning
of reddish or sandy coloring
Arabic ashab describes a reddish or tawny color, particularly of hair; suhayb is its diminutive, so the sense is something like 'reddish one' or 'a little red'. Descriptive names of this kind are ordinary in Arabic and carry no diminishing force. The derivation is settled and the name is well attested from the earliest Islamic period.
How the name formed
- ashab
- Suhayb
- Suhaib
Related forms: Suhayb · Suhaib · Suheyb
Pronouncing Suhaib
soo-HAYB
Two syllables, stress at the end, with the ai said as a single diphthong rhyming with hay. English speakers occasionally separate the vowels and produce soo-hah-EEB, which adds a syllable the name does not have.
Nicknames for Suhaib
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
- 1991
- Most boys named
- 201936 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3201reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- −30.0%14 in 2025, from 20
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.
Suhaib in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Suhayb in Arabic — spelling variant
- Suhaib in Urdu — same name
- Suheyb in Turkish — related form
Suhaibs among us
people named Suhaib are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 122,005 born in 2025 was named Suhaib
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Suhaib
- #6143
- Suhaib on the 2025 chart
- #903
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Suhaib went to 14 boys in 2025, but Suhayb is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 25, which makes it the 903rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 5,240 places above the chart.
- Suhaib14
- Suhayb11
About 1 boy in 68,323 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 122,005 for Suhaib 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 Jeren test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Suhaib's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jeren climbed just as high around 1987, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jeren's path sketches the road Suhaib is walking now.
Suhaib 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
Suhaib beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Suhaib in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete and physical, which is unusual among modern names.
- It has a genuinely remarkable historical bearer with a documented biography.
- It is short and made only of sounds English already has.
- Suhaib and Suhayb are both standard transliterations.
- English speakers sometimes add a syllable in the middle.
- It is rare in the United States and will be spelled out routinely.
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Suhaib
Masculine · #6143 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Suhaibs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Suhaib are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Suhaib?
- Suhaib is the most-used spelling in US records — 14 of the 25 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Suhayb.
- How popular is the name Suhaib in 2025?
- Suhaib ranks #6143 among US boy names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Suhaib?
- About 1 in every 122,005 US boys born in 2025 was named Suhaib — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Suhaib with classmates?
- Suhaib will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Suhaib
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ruel#6143 · Cornell#6143 · Vasco#6143 · Kemper#6143 · Yates#6143 · Roark#6143 · Raja#6143 · Orville#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Suhaib? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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