Humanverse

Susannah vs Susy

American parents have registered 7,784 Susannahs since 1880, against 1,217 Susys. Susannah is still ahead, with 70 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Susannah against Susy, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Susannah Susy

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Susannah has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1882 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1960, when Susannah had 33 and Susy had 28.

Side by side

  Susannah Susy
Total US births 7,7841,217
Most in one year 15232
Babies in 2025 706
Estimated living today 7,0001,100
Median age today 3747
Peak year 19751962
Best rank 876th girls2,073rd girls
Rank in 2025 2,514th13,208th
First recorded 18821940
Girls / boys 7,784 / 01,217 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Susys alive today are over 47; half the Susannahs are over 37. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Susannah and Susy.