Sumayah
Feminine
Sumayya was the first person killed for Islam. She was an enslaved woman in Mecca, tortured with her husband and son for refusing to renounce the new faith, and she died under it — before any battle, before the migration to Medina.
How old is the name Sumayah?
Sumayah first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Sumayah alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 600 people named Sumayah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sumayah most popular?
Sumayah peaked in 2006, reaching #2353 nationally. Today it ranks #5554, 3,201 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Sumayya to Sumayah
The story of Sumayah
Sumayya bint Khayyat was enslaved to Abu Jahl in Mecca and was among the earliest converts; the traditions say she and her husband Yasir were tortured to force them to recant, and both died. She is honored across Sunni and Shi'i Islam as the first martyr, and her name has been used for that reason ever since. It is common across the Arab world and South Asia. American records show it from the 1970s with immigration and, separately, through African American Muslim naming, with a peak in 2006; several spellings — Sumaya, Sumayya, Sumayah — are in use together.
Meaningscholars disagree
Diminutive of a word for height or a name
Sumayya is a diminutive form, and its root is disputed: a connection to samā, height or heaven, giving something like a little high one, and one to ism, a name, are both proposed. Arabic diminutives are affectionate rather than diminishing. Neither derivation is settled. The doubled a and the final h of Sumayah are transliteration conventions.
How the name formed
- Sumayya
- Sumayah
Related forms: سمية · سمیہ · Sümeyye · Sumayyah
Pronouncing Sumayah
soo-MY-yah
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with the y held long — the doubled consonant is a real length in Arabic. The final h is silent.
Nicknames for Sumayah
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
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 200680 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2353reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- +37.5%22 in 2025, from 16
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.
Sumayah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سمية in Arabic — transliteration
- سمیہ in Urdu — same name
- Sümeyye in Turkish — spelling variant
- Sumayyah in Indonesian — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Sumayahs among us
people named Sumayah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was named Sumayah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sumayah
- #5554
- Sumayah on the 2025 chart
- #761
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sumayah went to 22 girls in 2025, but Sumaya, Sumayya and Sumayyah 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 — 4,793 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 8,077 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 73,058 for Sumayah 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 Krissa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sumayah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Krissa climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Krissa's path sketches the road Sumayah is walking now.
Sumayah 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
Sumayah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sumayah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The woman behind it is one of the most honored figures in early Islam.
- Maya sits inside it as a very popular short form.
- The syllables are open and easy for any speaker.
- The meaning is not fully settled between two proposals.
- Sumaya, Sumayya, Sumayah and Sumaiya are four transliterations of one name.
- It reads as unmistakably Muslim, which some families weigh.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sumayah to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Sumayah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Sumayah
Feminine · #5554 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sumayahs 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 Sumayah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sumayah?
- Sumayah is one of 6 recorded spellings. Sumaya is the more common one — 76 births in 2025 against 22 for Sumayah.
- How popular is the name Sumayah in 2025?
- Sumayah ranks #5554 among US girl names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sumayah?
- About 1 in every 73,058 US girls born in 2025 was named Sumayah — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sumayah with classmates?
- Sumayah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sumayah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eda#5554 · Phebe#5554 · Felicia#5554 · Audie#5554 · Maryellen#5554 · Warren#5554 · Ruthann#5554 · Nettie#5554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sumayah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sumayah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle