Sunshine
A feminine name derived from the natural source of light and warmth.
Name Census estimates that about 5,192 living Americans carry the first name Sunshine. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Sunshine today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sunshine births was 1975 (324 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sunshine. 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 Sunshine with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.2K
~ 1 in 66,016 Americans
Peak year
1975
324 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2023 SSA rank
#2,682
Tracked since 1905
Census
Sunshine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,162 people with the first name Sunshine, which placed it at #3,825 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
#3,825
National first-name rank
People counted
5.2K
5,162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sunshine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sunshine is White at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.9%). 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 Sunshine 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 Sunshine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.5% · 2,915
- Hispanic or Latino13.4% · 690
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.9% · 667
- Black or African American7.5% · 387
- Two or more races6.4% · 332
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.3% · 171
Gender
Gender distribution for Sunshine
Out of the 5,719 babies given the name Sunshine since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Sunshine as a male name
- Ranked #9,619 in 2023
- 8 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1976 (9 births)
Sunshine as a female name
- Ranked #2,682 in 2024
- 65 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (324 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sunshine leans strongly female. 5,012 people counted with this name were female (97.2%), compared with 145 male bearers (2.8%).
Popularity
Sunshine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sunshine from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,943 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sunshine 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 Sunshine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sunshines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Sunshine, while West Virginia, Alabama, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 83 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sunshine
The name Sunshine is an English word name that emerged in the late 20th century as a unique baby name. It is derived from the English word "sunshine," which refers to the rays of the sun. The name reflects a sense of warmth, joy, and positivity.
While the name Sunshine has no direct historical or cultural origins, it draws inspiration from the sun's symbolic significance across various civilizations. The sun has been revered as a life-giving force and a symbol of power, fertility, and divinity in many ancient cultures, including those of Egypt, Greece, and various Native American tribes.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sunshine as a given name dates back to the 1960s. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Sunshine Tengle, an American actress born in 1968. Another notable individual was Sunshine Parker, an American singer and songwriter born in 1971.
In the literary world, the name Sunshine gained prominence with the character Sunshine Corazón in the 1995 novel "The Folks That Live on the Hill" by Kingsley Amis. The name also appeared in the 2007 film "Sunshine," which explored the lives of a crew traveling towards the sun.
Other individuals who have borne the name Sunshine include Sunshine Cruz, a Filipino actress born in 1977, and Sunshine Dizon, another Filipino actress born in 1983. In the music industry, Sunshine Anderson, an American R&B singer, rose to fame in the early 2000s.
While not a traditional name with a deep historical roots, Sunshine has gained popularity as a unique and uplifting name choice in recent decades, reflecting the desire to imbue a sense of positivity and warmth into a child's identity.
People
Sunshine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sunshine 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
Sunshine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sunshine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,192 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sunshine 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 66,016 US residents.
Is Sunshine a common name?
We classify Sunshine as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,719 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sunshine most popular?
The single biggest year for Sunshine was 1975, when 324 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sunshine is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sunshine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,162 people with the name Sunshine, or 1.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,825 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 Sunshine 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 Sunshine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sunshine leans strongly female. 5,012 people counted with this name were female (97.2%), compared with 145 male bearers (2.8%). 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 Sunshine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sunshine is White at 56.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.9%). 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 Sunshine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sunshine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.5% (2,915 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 Sunshine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sunshine a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Sunshine 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 Sunshine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sunshine 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 Sunshine 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 are called Sunshine?
Want to know how many Americans are named Sunshine? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.