Sunni
Following traditional Islamic orthodoxy, especially the authority of the successors of Muhammad.
Name Census estimates that about 2,396 living Americans carry the first name Sunni. It is a predominantly female name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Sunni today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sunni births was 2024 (134 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sunni. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sunni with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sunni is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 62 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 143,053 Americans
Peak year
2024
134 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,668
Tracked since 1949
Census
Sunni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,946 people with the first name Sunni, which placed it at #7,714 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,714
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,946 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sunni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sunni is White at 66.1%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (7.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sunni described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sunni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.1% · 1,286
- Black or African American11.4% · 221
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 149
- Two or more races7.1% · 139
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 85
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.4% · 66
Gender
Gender distribution for Sunni
Sunni leans heavily female at 97.5% of total registrations, but 62 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sunni as a male name
- Ranked #7,654 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (12 births)
Sunni as a female name
- Ranked #1,668 in 2024
- 123 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (123 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sunni leans strongly female. 1,842 people counted with this name were female (94.7%), compared with 104 male bearers (5.3%).
Popularity
Sunni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sunni from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 524 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sunni by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sunni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sunnis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Sunni, while Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sunni
The name Sunni traces its origins to the Arabic word "Sunnah," which refers to the traditions and practices of the Prophet Muhammad. It is derived from the root word "sanna," meaning "to establish a precedent or a way of life." The name Sunni is closely associated with Sunni Islam, one of the two major branches of Islam, alongside Shia Islam.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sunni can be found in the historical accounts of the early Islamic period, particularly in the context of the division between the Sunni and Shia communities after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE. The Sunnis followed the teachings and traditions of the Prophet as recorded in the Sunnah, while the Shias believed in the spiritual and political leadership of Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law.
One of the earliest and most famous individuals with the name Sunni was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (573-634 CE), who was the first caliph of the Sunni Islamic caliphate after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. He is revered by Sunnis as one of the most influential figures in early Islamic history and is known for his close companionship with the Prophet.
Another notable figure in Sunni Islam was Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE), a renowned Islamic philosopher, theologian, and mystic. His magnum opus, "The Revival of the Religious Sciences," is considered a seminal work in Sunni Islamic thought and has had a profound impact on the development of Islamic jurisprudence and spirituality.
In the modern era, one of the most well-known individuals with the name Sunni was Sunni Ali Ber (1943-2015), a renowned artist and painter from Pakistan. She was celebrated for her vibrant and colorful depictions of traditional Pakistani life and culture, and her works were exhibited internationally.
Another notable figure was Sunni Khalid (1932-2012), a Pakistani journalist and human rights activist. He was a vocal advocate for press freedom and played a crucial role in exposing human rights violations during the military dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s.
Sunni Wilson (born 1978) is a contemporary American musician and singer-songwriter. She is known for her soulful and genre-blending music, which incorporates elements of R&B, pop, and jazz. Her album "Ray of Light" received critical acclaim and earned her a dedicated following.
People
Sunni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sunni as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sunni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sunni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,396 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sunni going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 143,053 US residents.
Is Sunni a common name?
We classify Sunni as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,528 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sunni most popular?
The single biggest year for Sunni was 2024, when 134 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sunni is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sunni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,946 people with the name Sunni, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,714 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sunni in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sunni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sunni leans strongly female. 1,842 people counted with this name were female (94.7%), compared with 104 male bearers (5.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sunni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sunni is White at 66.1%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (7.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sunni most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sunni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.1% (1,286 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sunni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sunni a female name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Sunni in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sunni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sunni in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sunni can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Sunni as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Sunni on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.