Sulema
Feminine · “peace”
Eight centuries of Arabic rule left a very large vocabulary in Spanish, and a handful of names among it. Sulema belongs to that layer — it comes from the same Arabic root as Salma and Solomon, the one that means peace and wholeness — and it survives in Spanish-speaking families who have no particular sense of where it came from, which is how borrowed names usually work.
How old is the name Sulema?
Sulema first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Sulema alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 1,700 people named Sulema are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sulema most popular?
Sulema peaked in 1952, reaching #1781 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,427 places below that high. See the whole 1952 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From salaam to Sulema
The story of Sulema
Al-Andalus lasted from the eighth century to the fifteenth, and Spanish absorbed several thousand Arabic words in that time — almost everything to do with irrigation, mathematics, architecture and administration. Personal names crossed less often, but a few did, and Zulema is the best known. Spanish spells the initial sound with a z or an s indifferently in the Americas, since the two letters make one sound there. Sulema appears in American records from 1916 and peaked in the early 1950s.
Meaning
peace, wholeness
From the Arabic root s-l-m, which gives salaam, peace, and islam, submission, and the name Sulaiman — the Arabic Solomon. Zulema and Sulema are Spanish forms of a feminine built on the same root. The root is one of the most productive in the language and its sense is not in doubt.
How the name formed
- salaam
- Sulaima
- Zulema
- Sulema
Related forms: Zulema · Sulaima · Zulmira
Pronouncing Sulema
soo-LEH-mah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. In Spain the z-spelling would be said with a th, which is why the s-spelling belongs to the Americas.
Nicknames for Sulema
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
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 199937 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1781reached in 1952
- Change vs 2022
- −14.3%6 in 2025, from 7
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.
Sulema in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zulema in Spanish — spelling variant
- Sulaima in Arabic — related form
- Zulmira in Portuguese — related form
Sulemas among us
people named Sulema are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Sulema
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 Charlaine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sulema's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Charlaine climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Charlaine's path sketches the road Sulema is walking now.
Sulema 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
Sulema beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sulema in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is one word and among the most positive any name can carry.
- It records eight centuries of Arabic presence in Spain, which is a good thing to be able to say.
- Three open syllables that survive any accent intact.
- It works in Spanish and English without respelling.
- Zulema is the commoner spelling and will be written instead.
- It belongs to an older generation and carries that flavor.
- The Arabic origin is invisible to most Spanish speakers, so it has to be explained.
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What they receive
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Sulema
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sulemas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Sulema are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sulema in 2025?
- Sulema ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sulema?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Sulema — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sulema with classmates?
- Sulema will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sulema
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sulema? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sulema and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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