Sunshine
Sunshine was given to 57 girls in 2025, #2,952 among girls’ names; 5,779 Americans have been recorded with it since 1905 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,370 Americans named Sunshine and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 41 years old and half are between 21 and 49.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sunshine by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Sunshine?
#2,952 among girls’ names, 2025
Sunshine rose from #2,998 in 2015 to #2,952 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 32.5 to 35.5 per million.
324 babies in 1975, the peak
Sunshine peaked in 1975, when 324 girls were given it, #534 among girls’ names. The 57 births of 2025 are 18% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 57 | #2,952 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 66 | #2,657 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 77 | #2,376 | 0.05 |
| 2022 | 69 | #2,576 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 72 | #2,483 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 75 | #2,374 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 65 | #2,677 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 73 | #2,456 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 56 | #2,961 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 52 | #3,181 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (87)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 58 | #2,998 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 46 | #3,478 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 63 | #2,761 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 70 | #2,595 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 62 | #2,835 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 74 | #2,513 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 68 | #2,703 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 75 | #2,532 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 88 | #2,244 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 65 | #2,755 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 109 | #1,800 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 86 | #2,112 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 78 | #2,222 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 92 | #1,929 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 78 | #2,121 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 96 | #1,810 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 82 | #1,935 | 0.05 |
| 1998 | 67 | #2,157 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 78 | #1,894 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 59 | #2,275 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 51 | #2,508 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 41 | #2,925 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 47 | #2,629 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 41 | #2,910 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 45 | #2,693 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 41 | #2,841 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 54 | #2,240 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 46 | #2,405 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 56 | #2,014 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 68 | #1,734 | 0.04 |
| 1985 | 85 | #1,469 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 92 | #1,329 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 126 | #1,093 | 0.08 |
| 1982 | 143 | #1,029 | 0.08 |
| 1981 | 199 | #805 | 0.12 |
| 1980 | 241 | #707 | 0.15 |
| 1979 | 240 | #709 | 0.15 |
| 1978 | 228 | #697 | 0.15 |
| 1977 | 303 | #574 | 0.20 |
| 1976 | 296 | #565 | 0.20 |
| 1975 | 324 | #534 | 0.22 |
| 1974 | 255 | #611 | 0.17 |
| 1973 | 115 | #1,026 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 81 | #1,276 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 47 | #1,872 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 22 | #3,096 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 7 | #6,519 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 5 | #8,040 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 5 | #7,478 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #7,408 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 7 | #5,339 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,132 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,750 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,674 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,441 | under 0.01 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,883 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 10 | #3,022 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,889 | under 0.01 |
| 1929 | 7 | #4,002 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 6 | #4,660 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,534 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 19 | #2,065 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,988 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,648 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,712 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 18 | #2,178 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 11 | #3,129 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,449 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,982 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,951 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 9 | #3,312 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 12 | #2,636 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 9 | #3,106 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,608 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,330 | 0.01 |
| 1907 | 9 | #1,494 | 0.03 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,196 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sunshine a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sunshine has been given almost only to girls: 45 boys in 87 years of records.
Girls and boys named Sunshine: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sunshine, and how old are they?
5,370 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 5,779 Americans ever recorded as Sunshine. The median Sunshine alive today is 41 years old; half are between 21 and 49.
The 2020 Census counted 5,157 people named Sunshine (5,012 women and girls, 145 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,024 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 4 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 33 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,160 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,250 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 832 |
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 Sunshine born?
The states with the most babies named Sunshine are California, Texas and Florida, with 55% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,000 | #3,065 | 1.5× |
| Texas | 384 | #2,892 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 180 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 148 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 123 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 105 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New York | 105 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Arizona | 82 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 75 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Washington | 72 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Sunshine is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sunshine is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 1.5 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 Sunshine 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 5,885 babies since 1880, Sunshine is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 57 of their 57 babies (100%), 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 Sunshine
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 Sunshine and names like it
- Compare Sunshine and SunshyneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sSunshine peaked in 1975.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sunshine since 1910.
- The top names of 1975The year the most babies were named Sunshine.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Sunshine alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.