Soraya
Soraya was given to 313 girls in 2025, #868 among girls’ names; 6,811 Americans have been recorded with it since 1955 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,680 Americans named Soraya and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 7 and 26.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Soraya by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Soraya mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Soraya is “a female given name from Persian.” Its etymology gives the sense “brilliant gem; Pleiades” (ثریا).
Borrowed from Iranian Persian ثریا (sorayyâ), from Classical Persian ثریا (surayyā, “brilliant gem; Pleiades”), ultimately from Arabic ثُرَيَّا (ṯurayyā).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Soraya?
#868 among girls’ names, 2025
Soraya rose from #1,233 in 2015 to #868 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.11 to 0.19 per 1,000.
313 babies in 2025, the peak
Soraya peaked in 2025, when 313 girls were given it, #868 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 292 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 313 | #868 | 0.19 |
| 2024 | 292 | #911 | 0.18 |
| 2023 | 212 | #1,150 | 0.13 |
| 2022 | 242 | #1,054 | 0.15 |
| 2021 | 262 | #990 | 0.16 |
| 2020 | 196 | #1,186 | 0.12 |
| 2019 | 215 | #1,132 | 0.13 |
| 2018 | 187 | #1,248 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 177 | #1,320 | 0.10 |
| 2016 | 197 | #1,240 | 0.11 |
Every recorded year (70)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 201 | #1,233 | 0.11 |
| 2014 | 180 | #1,319 | 0.10 |
| 2013 | 192 | #1,246 | 0.11 |
| 2012 | 198 | #1,230 | 0.11 |
| 2011 | 219 | #1,121 | 0.12 |
| 2010 | 197 | #1,228 | 0.11 |
| 2009 | 170 | #1,397 | 0.09 |
| 2008 | 190 | #1,312 | 0.10 |
| 2007 | 237 | #1,099 | 0.12 |
| 2006 | 236 | #1,079 | 0.12 |
| 2005 | 172 | #1,299 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 144 | #1,434 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 135 | #1,458 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 104 | #1,746 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 100 | #1,791 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 92 | #1,860 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 67 | #2,249 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 75 | #2,005 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 74 | #1,960 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 76 | #1,912 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 67 | #2,040 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 56 | #2,342 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 55 | #2,342 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 56 | #2,339 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 49 | #2,537 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 54 | #2,337 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 52 | #2,292 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 34 | #3,029 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 49 | #2,228 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 43 | #2,378 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 38 | #2,588 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 29 | #3,055 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 40 | #2,392 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 40 | #2,444 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 44 | #2,298 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 53 | #2,009 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 31 | #2,850 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 26 | #3,081 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 27 | #2,986 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 29 | #2,715 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 33 | #2,448 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 19 | #3,534 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 34 | #2,296 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 29 | #2,511 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 49 | #1,823 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 36 | #2,235 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 32 | #2,289 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 35 | #2,050 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 23 | #2,620 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 33 | #2,051 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 40 | #1,826 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 39 | #1,915 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 31 | #2,162 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 31 | #2,153 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 39 | #1,867 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 23 | #2,563 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 21 | #2,581 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 28 | #2,156 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,994 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,746 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Soraya a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Soraya has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 70 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Soraya: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Soraya, and how old are they?
6,680 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 6,811 Americans ever recorded as Soraya. The median Soraya alive today is 16 years old; half are between 7 and 26.
The 2020 Census counted 7,619 people named Soraya (7,600 women and girls, 19 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,249 born in the U.S. The Census count is 45% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 190 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 491 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 761 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,390 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,850 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Soraya born?
The states with the most babies named Soraya are California, Texas and New York, with 40% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 45 | #696 | 1.5× |
| Texas | 31 | #946 | 0.8× |
| New York | 25 | #676 | 1.9× |
| Florida | 25 | #691 | 1.4× |
| Michigan | 13 | #635 | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 12 | #808 | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 11 | #907 | 0.7× |
| New Jersey | 10 | #769 | 0.7× |
| Virginia | 9 | #837 | 0.7× |
| Massachusetts | 8 | #677 | 0.6× |
Where Soraya is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Soraya is most over-represented in New York: since 1955 it was given 1.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Soraya with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 10,546 babies since 1880, Soraya is the most given (65% of them). In 2025 it was given to 313 of their 552 babies (57%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Soraya
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Soraya and names like it
- Compare Soraya and SoraBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sSoraya peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Soraya since 1910.
- Persian namesWiktionary’s origin for Soraya: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Soraya.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Soraya alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with SMost given first.