Susanna
Feminine · “Lily”
Susanna reached English through Greek and Latin from the Hebrew Shoshannah, and it has been read aloud in churches and printed in Bibles for something close to two thousand years. It is four soft syllables with the stress in the middle, the kind that settles easily into a sentence. The same name gave English Susan and French Suzanne, so most people hear it as familiar even when they have never met one.
How old is the name Susanna?
Susanna was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Susanna alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 16,000 people named Susanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Susanna most popular?
Susanna peaked in 1884, reaching #331 nationally. Today it ranks #1173, 842 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Shoshannah to Susanna
The story of Susanna
The name begins as Hebrew Shoshannah and comes into Greek as Sousanna, the form used in the Septuagint and the New Testament. It appears twice in scripture: in the Greek additions to the Book of Daniel, in the episode of Susanna and the elders, and in the Gospel of Luke, among the women who traveled with Jesus. Latin kept it as Susanna, and from there it spread across Europe, contracting in English to Susan and in French to Suzanne. The fuller Susanna stayed in use alongside them, carried by Bible reading and by the naming habits of Protestant families in Britain and colonial America.
Meaning
Lily
From Hebrew shoshannah, a lily or similar flower; scholars trace the word further back to an Egyptian term for the lotus. In later Hebrew usage the flower is sometimes read as a rose, but lily is the standard rendering.
How the name formed
- Shoshannah
- Sousanna
- Susanna
- Susannah
- Susan
Related forms: Susana · Suzanne · Zuzanna · Zsuzsanna · Susanne · Shoshana
Pronouncing Susanna
soo-ZAN-uh
Stress on the second syllable. Some families say soo-ZAH-nuh, closer to the Spanish and Italian forms. Both are accepted.
Nicknames for Susanna
High
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
- 1981268 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #331reached in 1884
- Change vs 2022
- +24.7%197 in 2025, from 158
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.
Susanna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Susana in Spanish — same name
- Suzanne in French — related form
- Zuzanna in Polish — same name
- Zsuzsanna in Hungarian — same name
- Susanne in German — related form
- Shoshana in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Pennsylvania.
Susannas among us
people named Susanna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,159 born in 2025 was named Susanna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Susanna
- #1173
- Susanna on the 2025 chart
- #564
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Susanna went to 197 girls in 2025, but Susana, Susannah and Suzanna and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 433, which makes it the 564th most-given girls’ name of the year — 609 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 3,712 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 8,159 for Susanna 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
Fashion outlook
Susanna 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 Susanna is headed
Susanna 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.
Susanna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Susanna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognized across Spanish, French, German, Polish, Hungarian and Hebrew in closely related forms, so it travels without needing translation.
- A continuous written record going back to the Greek Bible, which means no one has to ask what it is or where it comes from.
- Several established short forms — Susie, Sue, Anna — so a child can choose how formal to be.
- Spelled the way it sounds for most English speakers, and short enough to write early.
- Susanna and Susannah are both long-standing spellings, and people will guess wrong about half the time. Expect to spell it out, and to see the other version on mail and rosters.
- Many people will hear it and reply with Susan or Suzanne, the forms that dominated English for generations. Some Susannas correct it; some let it go.
- It is currently uncommon enough that a Susanna will likely be the only one in her class, which cuts both ways: no last-initial in the classroom, but also no ready-made recognition among children.
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What they receive
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Susanna
Feminine · #1173 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Susannas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,000 people named Susanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Susanna?
- Susanna is the most-used spelling in US records — 197 of the 433 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Susana, Susannah, Suzanna, Suzannah and Suzana.
- How popular is the name Susanna in 2025?
- Susanna ranks #1173 among US girl names in 2025, with 197 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Susanna?
- About 1 in every 8,159 US girls born in 2025 was named Susanna — 197 in all.
- Will my child share the name Susanna with classmates?
- Susanna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Susanna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leni#1173 · Elyana#1173 · Klover#1173 · Kassandra#1173 · Scarlette#1173 · Carson#1173 · Dalilah#1173 · Aleyna#1173
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Susanna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Susanna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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