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Sumaya

Feminine · “little high one”

1969high 2016
#2368 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare76 girls in 2025

Sumayya was the first martyr of Islam — killed for refusing to renounce it — and her name is a diminutive of 'high'.

How old is the name Sumaya?

Sumaya first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Sumaya alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 2,100 people named Sumaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Sumaya most popular?

Sumaya peaked in 2016, reaching #1875 nationally. Today it ranks #2368, 493 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.

Compare this nameMore “S” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Sumaya

Sumayya bint Khayyat was an enslaved woman among the earliest converts, tortured with her husband and son for it, and killed — the first person to die for Islam. The name means the little exalted one, from the root that also gives the word for sky. It appears in American records in current use.

Meaning

little high one, exalted

From the Arabic sumayya, a diminutive of samiy, 'high' or 'elevated', from the root s-m-w which also gives sama', 'sky'. Sumayya bint Khayyat was killed at Mecca for her faith. The Arabic is documented.

How the name formed

  1. samiy
  2. sumayya
  3. Sumaya

Related forms: سمية · Sumayya · Sumaya

Pronouncing Sumaya

soo-MY-ah

Three syllables, stress in the middle. Arabic doubles the y, which this spelling softens.

Nicknames for Sumaya

Moderate

SumaThe front of the name, used inside families rather than generally
MayaTaken from the back, and a name in its own right with a large record
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1969–20251095501097619692025

US babies named Sumaya per year from 1969 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#18751960s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1969
Most girls named
2016109 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1875reached in 2016
Change vs 2024
+15.2%76 in 2025, from 66
Sumaya sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2016, with 109 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Sumaya in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • سمية in Arabic — transliteration
  • Sumayya in English — spelling variant
  • Sumaya in Somali — same name

Strongest US states over the last decade: Minnesota, New York, California.

Sumayas among us

2,100

people named Sumaya are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 21,148 born in 2025 was named Sumaya

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Sumaya

#2368
Sumaya on the 2025 chart
#761
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sumaya went to 76 girls in 2025, but Sumayya, Sumayyah and Sumayah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 199, which makes it the 761st most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,607 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 8,077 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 21,148 for Sumaya 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

III

Is it right for you

The Gaila test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sumaya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gaila climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gaila's path sketches the road Sumaya is walking now.

40%chance Sumaya will feel “very 2010s” by 2040
Sumaya, aligned on its peakGaila· peak 1954not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+30 yrsGaila · #10517Sumaya today
Sumaya today is about where Gaila stood in 1963 — 9 years past a #1875-sized peak. By 1978, Gaila had settled around #6836.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Sumaya 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 Sumaya is headed

19692030

US babies named Sumaya per year, 1969 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Sumaya should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady-5% by 2030projected around #2,571 in 2030

Medium 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.

Sumaya beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Sumaya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Sumayathis name76#2368Eevee76#2368Sinai76#2368Jaziyah76#2368Mariama76#2368

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • The first martyr of Islam is a first-rate bearer.
  • That sky and exaltedness share a root is a genuinely good detail.
  • Maya is available as a short form with a large record.
What to consider
  • The historical bearer's story is one of torture and killing.
  • Several transliterations are in circulation.
  • It reads as specifically Muslim.

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Sumaya

Feminine · #2368 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Sumayas are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Sumaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Sumaya?
Sumaya is the most-used spelling in US records — 76 of the 199 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Sumayya, Sumayyah, Sumayah, Sumaiya and Sumaiyah.
How popular is the name Sumaya in 2025?
Sumaya ranks #2368 among US girl names in 2025, with 76 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Sumaya?
About 1 in every 21,148 US girls born in 2025 was named Sumaya — 76 in all.
Will my child share the name Sumaya with classmates?
Sumaya will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Sumaya

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Eevee#2368 · Sinai#2368 · Jaziyah#2368 · Mariama#2368 · Lela#2368 · Weslynn#2368 · Taya#2368 · Roya#2368

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sumaya? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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