Surya
Masculine · “sun”
Surya is given to both — 1,215 boys and 334 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Surya is the sun in Sanskrit — a god who drives a chariot pulled by seven horses, one for each color.
How old is the name Surya?
Surya first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Surya alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,200 people named Surya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Surya most popular?
Surya peaked in 2009, reaching #2035 nationally. Today it ranks #2718, 683 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From surya to Surya
The story of Surya
Surya rides a chariot drawn by seven horses, generally read as the seven colors of light, and the Gayatri mantra — among the most-recited verses in Hinduism — is addressed to him. The word is cognate with the Latin sol and the English sun. Surya appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
sun
From the Sanskrit surya, 'sun', from a root shared across Indo-European — the Greek helios, the Latin sol, the Germanic sun. Surya is a Vedic deity. The Gayatri mantra addresses him. The Sanskrit is documented.
How the name formed
- surya
- Surya
Related forms: सूर्य · Surya · Suriya
Pronouncing Surya
SOOR-yah
Two syllables, stress on the first. English speakers often split the rya into two.
Nicknames for Surya
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
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 200968 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2035reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −4.1%47 in 2025, from 49
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.
Surya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- सूर्य in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Surya in Indonesian — same name
- Suriya in Tamil — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New Jersey.
Suryas among us
people named Surya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 36,342 born in 2025 was named Surya
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 Brenten test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Surya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Brenten climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Brenten's path sketches the road Surya is walking now.
Surya 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 Surya is headed
Surya 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.
Surya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Surya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the seven horses are read as the colors of light is a first-rate image.
- That surya, sol and sun share a root is a genuinely good etymology.
- Suri is available as a short form with real use.
- It names a deity, which some families will weigh.
- English speakers add a syllable.
- It reads as specifically Hindu.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Surya
Masculine · #2718 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Suryas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Surya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Surya in 2025?
- Surya ranks #2718 among US boy names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Surya?
- About 1 in every 36,342 US boys born in 2025 was named Surya — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Surya with classmates?
- Surya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Surya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Einar#2718 · Kurtis#2718 · Sasha#2718 · Jovany#2718 · Ahsan#2718 · Xavien#2718 · Yassin#2718 · Unknown#2718
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Surya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Surya 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
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