Susan
Susan was given to 222 girls in 2025, #1,091 among girls’ names; 1,126,022 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 862,000 Americans named Susan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (77% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 61 and 74.
Susan is the #9 most common first name among living American women and girls, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Susan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Susan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Susan is “a female given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “lily” (שׁוֹשַׁנָּה).
English form of the biblical Susanna, from Biblical Hebrew שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (šōšannā, “lily”), ultimately from Egyptian z:S:n-M9 (zšn).
/ˈsuː.zən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Susan?
#1,091 among girls’ names, 2025
Susan fell from #913 in 2015 to #1,091 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.17 to 0.14 per 1,000.
47,483 babies in 1955, the peak
Susan peaked in 1955, when 47,483 babies were given it (47,418 girls, #5 among girls’ names). The 222 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 222 | #1,091 | 0.14 |
| 2024 | 216 | #1,123 | 0.13 |
| 2023 | 223 | #1,105 | 0.14 |
| 2022 | 212 | #1,150 | 0.13 |
| 2021 | 226 | #1,098 | 0.14 |
| 2020 | 262 | #975 | 0.16 |
| 2019 | 245 | #1,049 | 0.15 |
| 2018 | 235 | #1,082 | 0.14 |
| 2017 | 276 | #963 | 0.16 |
| 2016 | 306 | #909 | 0.17 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 301 | #913 | 0.17 |
| 2014 | 327 | #847 | 0.18 |
| 2013 | 319 | #834 | 0.18 |
| 2012 | 329 | #816 | 0.19 |
| 2011 | 357 | #765 | 0.20 |
| 2010 | 356 | #772 | 0.20 |
| 2009 | 380 | #749 | 0.21 |
| 2008 | 432 | #700 | 0.23 |
| 2007 | 468 | #637 | 0.24 |
| 2006 | 497 | #587 | 0.26 |
| 2005 | 487 | #586 | 0.26 |
| 2004 | 536 | #530 | 0.29 |
| 2003 | 576 | #498 | 0.32 |
| 2002 | 615 | #464 | 0.34 |
| 2001 | 639 | #436 | 0.35 |
| 2000 | 693 | #409 | 0.38 |
| 1999 | 707 | #395 | 0.40 |
| 1998 | 758 | #374 | 0.43 |
| 1997 | 807 | #347 | 0.46 |
| 1996 | 963 | #298 | 0.55 |
| 1995 | 894 | #312 | 0.51 |
| 1994 | 1,025 | #274 | 0.57 |
| 1993 | 1,200 | #233 | 0.66 |
| 1992 | 1,373 | #206 | 0.74 |
| 1991 | 1,479 | #203 | 0.79 |
| 1990 | 1,687 | #172 | 0.89 |
| 1989 | 1,800 | #161 | 1.0 |
| 1988 | 2,060 | #140 | 1.2 |
| 1987 | 2,247 | #125 | 1.3 |
| 1986 | 2,389 | #118 | 1.4 |
| 1985 | 2,661 | #106 | 1.5 |
| 1984 | 3,116 | #90 | 1.9 |
| 1983 | 3,358 | #86 | 2.0 |
| 1982 | 3,970 | #76 | 2.3 |
| 1981 | 4,244 | #71 | 2.5 |
| 1980 | 4,704 | #62 | 2.8 |
| 1979 | 5,196 | #51 | 3.2 |
| 1978 | 5,418 | #49 | 3.5 |
| 1977 | 5,961 | #45 | 3.9 |
| 1976 | 6,402 | #40 | 4.4 |
| 1975 | 7,488 | #32 | 5.1 |
| 1974 | 8,470 | #27 | 5.8 |
| 1973 | 9,279 | #25 | 6.4 |
| 1972 | 10,574 | #24 | 7.0 |
| 1971 | 13,782 | #17 | 8.3 |
| 1970 | 15,738 | #15 | 9.0 |
| 1969 | 17,806 | #11 | 10.6 |
| 1968 | 19,503 | #10 | 11.9 |
| 1967 | 22,262 | #5 | 13.5 |
| 1966 | 23,776 | #6 | 14.1 |
| 1965 | 26,321 | #5 | 14.9 |
| 1964 | 31,515 | #3 | 16.6 |
| 1963 | 33,991 | #3 | 17.6 |
| 1962 | 35,752 | #3 | 18.2 |
| 1961 | 37,532 | #3 | 18.6 |
| 1960 | 39,208 | #2 | 19.4 |
| 1959 | 41,617 | #2 | 20.6 |
| 1958 | 45,175 | #2 | 22.5 |
| 1957 | 45,954 | #2 | 22.5 |
| 1956 | 46,558 | #5 | 23.2 |
| 1955 | 47,418 | #5 | 24.3 |
| 1954 | 47,162 | #5 | 24.3 |
| 1953 | 44,297 | #5 | 23.5 |
| 1952 | 41,348 | #5 | 22.3 |
| 1951 | 40,228 | #6 | 22.3 |
| 1950 | 38,017 | #5 | 22.2 |
| 1949 | 37,709 | #5 | 22.0 |
| 1948 | 35,988 | #5 | 21.2 |
| 1947 | 31,952 | #8 | 18.0 |
| 1946 | 28,267 | #8 | 18.0 |
| 1945 | 19,222 | #10 | 14.7 |
| 1944 | 16,330 | #13 | 12.3 |
| 1943 | 14,888 | #18 | 10.7 |
| 1942 | 12,015 | #21 | 8.9 |
| 1941 | 8,889 | #27 | 7.4 |
| 1940 | 6,756 | #36 | 5.9 |
| 1939 | 4,887 | #44 | 4.5 |
| 1938 | 3,555 | #71 | 3.2 |
| 1937 | 2,641 | #97 | 2.5 |
| 1936 | 2,153 | #110 | 2.1 |
| 1935 | 1,801 | #126 | 1.7 |
| 1934 | 1,492 | #138 | 1.4 |
| 1933 | 1,264 | #149 | 1.3 |
| 1932 | 1,227 | #158 | 1.1 |
| 1931 | 1,005 | #180 | 0.94 |
| 1930 | 1,003 | #192 | 0.89 |
| 1929 | 874 | #210 | 0.78 |
| 1928 | 812 | #220 | 0.70 |
| 1927 | 868 | #218 | 0.73 |
| 1926 | 858 | #215 | 0.72 |
| 1925 | 862 | #219 | 0.71 |
| 1924 | 832 | #227 | 0.67 |
| 1923 | 811 | #228 | 0.67 |
| 1922 | 795 | #229 | 0.66 |
| 1921 | 846 | #222 | 0.69 |
| 1920 | 850 | #225 | 0.71 |
| 1919 | 824 | #217 | 0.73 |
| 1918 | 912 | #208 | 0.79 |
| 1917 | 837 | #210 | 0.77 |
| 1916 | 844 | #207 | 0.81 |
| 1915 | 817 | #202 | 0.83 |
| 1914 | 661 | #200 | 0.87 |
| 1913 | 543 | #196 | 0.87 |
| 1912 | 522 | #186 | 0.94 |
| 1911 | 459 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 1910 | 395 | #173 | 1.0 |
| 1909 | 380 | #164 | 1.1 |
| 1908 | 350 | #170 | 1.0 |
| 1907 | 355 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 1906 | 326 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1905 | 320 | #165 | 1.1 |
| 1904 | 324 | #166 | 1.2 |
| 1903 | 305 | #163 | 1.2 |
| 1902 | 335 | #155 | 1.3 |
| 1901 | 342 | #145 | 1.4 |
| 1900 | 410 | #144 | 1.4 |
| 1899 | 350 | #134 | 1.5 |
| 1898 | 382 | #135 | 1.5 |
| 1897 | 341 | #140 | 1.5 |
| 1896 | 343 | #138 | 1.4 |
| 1895 | 393 | #120 | 1.7 |
| 1894 | 357 | #125 | 1.6 |
| 1893 | 356 | #122 | 1.7 |
| 1892 | 366 | #123 | 1.7 |
| 1891 | 370 | #106 | 2.0 |
| 1890 | 354 | #115 | 1.9 |
| 1889 | 356 | #107 | 2.0 |
| 1888 | 363 | #106 | 2.0 |
| 1887 | 335 | #99 | 2.3 |
| 1886 | 323 | #102 | 2.2 |
| 1885 | 302 | #100 | 2.3 |
| 1884 | 326 | #94 | 2.5 |
| 1883 | 322 | #85 | 2.9 |
| 1882 | 326 | #79 | 3.0 |
| 1881 | 292 | #79 | 3.2 |
| 1880 | 286 | #80 | 3.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Susan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Susan has been given almost only to girls: 2,541 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Susan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Susan, and how old are they?
862,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 77% of the 1,126,022 Americans ever recorded as Susan. The median Susan alive today is 68 years old; half are between 61 and 74.
The 2020 Census counted 979,771 people named Susan (979,207 women and girls, 564 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 934,259 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 46,500 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 584,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 186,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 33,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 8,540 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,360 |
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 Susan born?
The states with the most babies named Susan are New York, California and Pennsylvania, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 122,746 | #974 | 1.3× |
| California | 91,876 | #1,404 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 82,362 | #426 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 70,463 | #1,388 | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 63,035 | #559 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 57,351 | #854 | 1.1× |
| Massachusetts | 49,076 | #994 | 1.5× |
| New Jersey | 43,099 | #1,336 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 37,894 | #1,456 | 0.6× |
| Wisconsin | 37,145 | #603 | 1.4× |
Where Susan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Susan is most over-represented in Massachusetts: 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 Susan 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 1,132,521 babies since 1880, Susan is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 222 of their 228 babies (97%), 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 Susan
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 Susan and names like it
- Compare Susan and SusannBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sSusan peaked in 1955.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Susan since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Susan: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1955The year the most babies were named Susan.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Susan alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.