Surya
Surya is given to both girls and boys: 6 girls and 47 boys were given it in 2025 (#14,730 among girls’ names and #2,750 among boys’, #5,462 among all names counting both); 1,549 Americans have been recorded with it since 1977 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,530 Americans named Surya and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 8 and 21.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Surya by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Surya mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Surya is “a male given name from Sanskrit used in India.” Its etymology gives the sense “the sun or its deity” (सूर्य).
Borrowed from Sanskrit सूर्य (sū́rya, “the sun or its deity”). Doublet of sun.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Surya?
#2,750 among boys’ names, 2025
Surya fell from #2,479 in 2015 to #2,750 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 26.6 to 27.5 per million.
83 babies in 2009, the peak
Surya peaked in 2009, when 83 babies were given it (68 boys, #2,046 among boys’ names). The 53 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 64% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #14,730 | 47 | #2,750 |
| 2024 | 13 | #8,372 | 49 | #2,707 |
| 2023 | 15 | #7,590 | 45 | #2,840 |
| 2022 | 8 | #12,116 | 44 | #2,909 |
| 2021 | 9 | #11,057 | 55 | #2,458 |
| 2020 | 8 | #12,019 | 29 | #3,715 |
| 2019 | 15 | #7,675 | 42 | #2,934 |
| 2018 | 11 | #9,739 | 49 | #2,610 |
| 2017 | under 5 | 41 | #2,938 | |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,755 | 49 | #2,583 |
Every recorded year (37)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 10 | #10,774 | 51 | #2,479 |
| 2014 | 8 | #12,939 | 44 | #2,744 |
| 2013 | under 5 | 42 | #2,798 | |
| 2012 | 10 | #11,166 | 44 | #2,759 |
| 2011 | 14 | #8,568 | 44 | #2,738 |
| 2010 | 14 | #8,650 | 43 | #2,818 |
| 2009 | 15 | #8,413 | 68 | #2,046 |
| 2008 | 12 | #10,005 | 51 | #2,506 |
| 2007 | 11 | #10,734 | 46 | #2,679 |
| 2006 | 9 | #12,307 | 47 | #2,569 |
| 2005 | 7 | #14,326 | 36 | #2,946 |
| 2004 | under 5 | 36 | #2,870 | |
| 2003 | 10 | #10,342 | 39 | #2,610 |
| 2002 | under 5 | 36 | #2,671 | |
| 2001 | 10 | #10,016 | 40 | #2,473 |
| 2000 | 17 | #6,440 | 40 | #2,417 |
| 1999 | under 5 | 24 | #3,353 | |
| 1998 | 12 | #7,961 | 14 | #4,832 |
| 1997 | 5 | #15,845 | 7 | #7,997 |
| 1996 | 13 | #7,080 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,669 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 21 | #4,817 | 8 | #6,890 |
| 1993 | 12 | #7,429 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 11 | #7,995 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 5 | #14,977 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 5 | #14,283 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 5 | #6,739 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Surya a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,549 Americans recorded as Surya, 22% are girls and 78% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Surya: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Surya, and how old are they?
1,530 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,549 Americans ever recorded as Surya. The median Surya alive today is 15 years old; half are between 8 and 21.
The 2020 Census counted 2,767 people named Surya (793 women and girls, 1,974 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,218 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.3 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 | 5 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 83 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 750 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 693 |
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 Surya born?
The states with the most babies named Surya are Texas, California and Washington, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Washington is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 8 | #2,056 | 0.5× |
| California | 7 | #2,180 | 1.3× |
| Washington | 5 | #1,140 | 0.3× |
Where Surya is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Surya is most over-represented in California: since 1977 it was given 1.3 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 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 Surya 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 Surya
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 Surya and names like it
- Compare Surya and PheonixBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sSurya peaked in 2009.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Surya since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Surya: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2009The year the most babies were named Surya.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Surya alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.