Sumayyah
Feminine
Sumayyah is remembered in Islamic tradition as the first martyr — an enslaved woman in Mecca killed for refusing to renounce her faith.
How old is the name Sumayyah?
Sumayyah first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Sumayyah alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 900 people named Sumayyah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sumayyah most popular?
Sumayyah peaked in 2020, reaching #3399 nationally. Today it ranks #4067, 668 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Sumayyah
Sumayyah bint Khayyat was an enslaved woman among the earliest converts in Mecca and was killed for it, which makes her the first person to die for the faith in the tradition's account. Her standing in Islamic memory is considerable and specific. The name is used across the Muslim world and reaches American records with families from South Asia and the Arab world.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The name is generally read as a diminutive of a word meaning high or elevated, from the same root as sama, the sky. The derivation is standard and not certain, which is common for pre-Islamic Arabian names.
Pronouncing Sumayyah
soo-MY-yah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle; the doubled y is held audibly in Arabic.
Nicknames for Sumayyah
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
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 202045 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3399reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%35 in 2025, from 35
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.
Sumayyah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sumaya in Arabic — spelling variant
- Sumayyah in Urdu — same name
- Sümeyye in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, New York, California.
Sumayyahs among us
people named Sumayyah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was named Sumayyah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sumayyah
- #4067
- Sumayyah on the 2025 chart
- #761
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sumayyah went to 35 girls in 2025, but Sumaya, Sumayya 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 — 3,306 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 8,077 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 45,922 for Sumayyah 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 Maddalena test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sumayyah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maddalena climbed just as high around 1966, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maddalena's path sketches the road Sumayyah is walking now.
Sumayyah 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 Sumayyah is headed
Sumayyah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Sumayyah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sumayyah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A figure of genuinely central standing in Islamic memory.
- Maya sits inside it as a very familiar short form.
- Recognized across the whole Muslim world.
- Sumaya, Sumayyah and Sumaiyah are all in use and none is dominant in English.
- Eight letters is a fair amount for early handwriting.
- The name's own meaning is standard but not fully settled.
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Sumayyah
Feminine · #4067 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sumayyahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Sumayyah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sumayyah?
- Sumayyah is one of 6 recorded spellings. Sumaya is the more common one — 76 births in 2025 against 35 for Sumayyah.
- How popular is the name Sumayyah in 2025?
- Sumayyah ranks #4067 among US girl names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sumayyah?
- About 1 in every 45,922 US girls born in 2025 was named Sumayyah — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sumayyah with classmates?
- Sumayyah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sumayyah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eli#4067 · Peace#4067 · Medina#4067 · Darlin#4067 · Anja#4067 · Sparrow#4067 · Liani#4067 · Salina#4067
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sumayyah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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