Suzanna
Feminine · “lily”
Suzanna comes from a Hebrew word for a flower, and the flower is disputed in a pleasant way: a lily to some readers, a rose to others, and behind both an Egyptian word for the lotus. It is one of the older women's names still in ordinary use.
How old is the name Suzanna?
Suzanna first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Suzanna alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 8,600 people named Suzanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Suzanna most popular?
Suzanna peaked in 1973, reaching #749 nationally. Today it ranks #2778, 2,029 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Where it comes from
From Shoshannah to Suzanna
The story of Suzanna
Susanna appears twice in scripture: in the Greek additions to Daniel, as a woman falsely accused by two elders and cleared when the young Daniel questions them separately, and in the gospel of Luke as one of the women who supported Jesus' work. The first story was a favorite subject for painters, which kept the name visible in Europe for centuries. English took it up after the Reformation and it has been in continuous use since, with the spelling drifting between Susanna, Susannah, Suzanna and Suzannah without settling.
Meaning
lily — or lotus
Hebrew shoshannah names a flower, and which one has been argued: lily is the traditional English reading, rose the traditional reading in some other languages, and the word is generally traced back to Egyptian sshn, the lotus. The flower is not in doubt even where the species is, and modern Hebrew shoshan means rose. The z-and-double-n spelling is an English and German variant of Susanna.
How the name formed
- Shoshannah
- Sousanna
- Susanna
- Suzanna
Related forms: Shoshana · Suzanne · Susana · Susanna · Zsuzsanna
Pronouncing Suzanna
soo-ZAN-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The z is voiced, which is what the spelling is for. French says soo-ZAN with two syllables and no final vowel.
Nicknames for Suzanna
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
- 1892
- Most girls named
- 1973185 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #749reached in 1973
- Change vs 2023
- −10.3%61 in 2025, from 68
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.
Suzanna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shoshana in Hebrew — same name
- Suzanne in French — same name
- Susana in Spanish — same name
- Susanna in Italian — spelling variant
- Zsuzsanna in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Pennsylvania, Texas.
Suzannas among us
people named Suzanna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 26,349 born in 2025 was named Suzanna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Suzanna
- #2778
- Suzanna on the 2025 chart
- #564
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Suzanna went to 61 girls in 2025, but Susanna, Susana and Susannah 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 — 2,214 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 3,712 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 26,349 for Suzanna 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 Lilia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Suzanna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lilia climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lilia's path sketches the road Suzanna is walking now.
Suzanna 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 Suzanna is headed
Suzanna 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.
Suzanna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Suzanna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An unbroken record from Hebrew through Greek and Latin into every European language.
- Suzy, Sue and Anna are three established short forms with quite different registers.
- Recognized everywhere without being common anywhere at the moment.
- Susanna, Susannah, Suzanna and Suzannah are four live spellings and none is standard.
- The final h is present in some spellings and absent in others, and strangers will guess wrongly.
- It carries a strong sense of a particular American generation, which reads as classic or dated depending on the ear.
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What they receive
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Suzanna
Feminine · #2778 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Suzannas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,600 people named Suzanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Suzanna?
- Suzanna is one of 6 recorded spellings. Susanna is the more common one — 197 births in 2025 against 61 for Suzanna.
- How popular is the name Suzanna in 2025?
- Suzanna ranks #2778 among US girl names in 2025, with 61 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Suzanna?
- About 1 in every 26,349 US girls born in 2025 was named Suzanna — 61 in all.
- Will my child share the name Suzanna with classmates?
- Suzanna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Suzanna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenia#2778 · Amour#2778 · Wynona#2778 · Joie#2778 · Bennie#2778 · Havyn#2778 · Wisdom#2778 · Aela#2778
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Suzanna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Suzanna 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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