Suraj
Suraj was given to 13 boys in 2025, #6,751 among boys’ names; 1,099 Americans have been recorded with it since 1975 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,070 Americans named Suraj and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 17 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Suraj by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Suraj mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Suraj is “a male given name from Hindi used by Hindus.” Its etymology gives the sense “the sun” (सूरज).
Hindi सूरज (sūraj, “the sun”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Suraj?
#6,751 among boys’ names, 2025
Suraj fell from #5,708 in 2015 to #6,751 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 8.3 to 7.6 per million.
54 babies in 2003, the peak
Suraj peaked in 2003, when 54 boys were given it, #2,096 among boys’ names. The 13 births of 2025 are 24% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 13 | #6,751 | 7.6 |
| 2024 | 8 | #9,747 | 4.6 |
| 2023 | 7 | #10,660 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 7 | #10,704 | 4.0 |
| 2021 | 7 | #10,645 | 4.0 |
| 2020 | 14 | #6,247 | 8.1 |
| 2019 | 16 | #5,761 | 8.9 |
| 2018 | 24 | #4,330 | 13.2 |
| 2017 | 17 | #5,492 | 9.2 |
| 2016 | 16 | #5,758 | 8.4 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #5,708 | 8.3 |
| 2014 | 13 | #6,577 | 6.8 |
| 2013 | 28 | #3,735 | 14.8 |
| 2012 | 26 | #3,988 | 13.7 |
| 2011 | 24 | #4,198 | 12.6 |
| 2010 | 20 | #4,822 | 10.4 |
| 2009 | 27 | #3,902 | 13.6 |
| 2008 | 21 | #4,683 | 10.3 |
| 2007 | 27 | #3,878 | 13.0 |
| 2006 | 28 | #3,674 | 13.6 |
| 2005 | 48 | #2,422 | 24.0 |
| 2004 | 45 | #2,477 | 22.7 |
| 2003 | 54 | #2,096 | 27.3 |
| 2002 | 45 | #2,327 | 23.2 |
| 2001 | 35 | #2,726 | 18.0 |
| 2000 | 48 | #2,121 | 24.4 |
| 1999 | 42 | #2,222 | 21.9 |
| 1998 | 36 | #2,438 | 18.8 |
| 1997 | 35 | #2,387 | 18.6 |
| 1996 | 37 | #2,244 | 19.5 |
| 1995 | 44 | #1,945 | 23.1 |
| 1994 | 33 | #2,381 | 17.1 |
| 1993 | 25 | #2,852 | 12.7 |
| 1992 | 26 | #2,732 | 13.0 |
| 1991 | 25 | #2,738 | 12.4 |
| 1990 | 18 | #3,437 | 8.8 |
| 1989 | 17 | #3,424 | 8.5 |
| 1988 | 15 | #3,501 | 7.8 |
| 1987 | 14 | #3,481 | 7.5 |
| 1986 | 9 | #4,790 | 4.9 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,687 | 3.8 |
| 1984 | 10 | #4,165 | 5.5 |
| 1983 | 10 | #4,105 | 5.6 |
| 1982 | 9 | #4,539 | 5.0 |
| 1981 | 10 | #4,113 | 5.6 |
| 1980 | 5 | #7,173 | 2.8 |
| 1979 | 10 | #4,039 | 5.8 |
| 1978 | 7 | #4,990 | 4.3 |
| 1977 | 9 | #4,119 | 5.5 |
| 1976 | 5 | #6,388 | 3.2 |
| 1975 | 7 | #4,736 | 4.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Suraj a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Suraj has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 51 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Suraj: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Suraj, and how old are they?
1,070 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,099 Americans ever recorded as Suraj. The median Suraj alive today is 24 years old; half are between 17 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 2,621 people named Suraj (50 women and girls, 2,571 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,027 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.6 times 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 39 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 295 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 551 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 185 |
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 Suraj born?
The states with the most babies named Suraj are California, New York and New Jersey, with 95% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 137 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 79 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 51 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Florida | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Illinois | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Texas | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Suraj with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Suraj
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 Suraj and names like it
- Compare Suraj and BrennonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sSuraj peaked in 2003.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Suraj since 1910.
- The top names of 2003The year the most babies were named Suraj.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Suraj alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.