Susan
Feminine · “a lily”
Susan is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,123,481 girls against 2,541 boys since 1880. See Susan as a boy name
The first American coin to carry a real woman's face carried this name. The Susan B. Anthony dollar was minted at the end of the nineteen-seventies, was widely disliked because it was too close in size to a quarter, and was withdrawn — but it was a first, and it is why a great many Americans know the name.
How old is the name Susan?
Susan was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Susan alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 898,000 people named Susan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Susan most popular?
Susan peaked in 1957, reaching #2 nationally. Today it ranks #1085, 1,083 places below that high. See the whole 1957 chart.
Where it comes from
From shoshannah to Susan
The story of Susan
Susan is the English form and Susanna the biblical one, and the difference is a whole extra syllable that English dropped. The biblical figure appears in a story that Protestant Bibles do not include and Catholic ones do — a woman falsely accused, and a young Daniel cross-examining the accusers separately and catching them in a contradiction, which is the earliest cross-examination in Western literature. English took the name at the Reformation regardless of which Bible a family used, shortened it, and by the twentieth century Susan was near the top of the American lists while Susanna had almost vanished.
Meaningscholars disagree
a lily
The Hebrew shoshannah is usually read as a lily, though the lotus has its defenders and the word may go back further to Egyptian. The English form is a considerable shortening of it.
How the name formed
- shoshannah
- Susanna
- Susan
Related forms: Suzanne · Susana · Susanna · Zsuzsanna · Shoshana
Pronouncing Susan
SOO-zun
Two syllables with the weight at the front. The s in the middle is said as a z, which the spelling does not indicate.
Nicknames for Susan
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 195447,162 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2reached in 1957
- Change vs 2022
- +4.7%222 in 2025, from 212
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.
Susan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Suzanne in French — related form
- Susana in Spanish — related form
- Susanna in Italian — related form
- Zsuzsanna in Hungarian — related form
- Shoshana in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, New York, Texas.
Susans among us
people named Susan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,240 born in 2025 was named Susan
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 Barbara test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Susan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Barbara climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Barbara's path sketches the road Susan is walking now.
Susan 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 Susan is headed
Susan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Susan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Susan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing.
- It has a form in every European language and in Hebrew.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- Sue and Susie are established short forms with different registers.
- It is one of the most generation-marked names in the language and will place a person in time.
- Suzanne and Susanna are close neighbors and are frequently substituted.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Susan
Feminine · #1085 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Susans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 898,000 people named Susan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Susan in 2025?
- Susan ranks #1085 among US girl names in 2025, with 222 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Susan?
- About 1 in every 7,240 US girls born in 2025 was named Susan — 222 in all.
- Will my child share the name Susan with classmates?
- Susan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Susan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Saoirse#1085 · Ira#1085 · Joan#1085 · Laramie#1085 · Arlett#1085 · Savanna#1085 · Aira#1082 · Malayah#1082
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Susan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Susan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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