Suriya
A masculine name of Tamil origin meaning "the sun god".
Name Census estimates that about 247 living Americans carry the first name Suriya. It is a predominantly female name (96.0% of registrations). The average person named Suriya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Suriya births was 2008 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Suriya. 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 Suriya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
247
~ 1 in 1,387,669 Americans
Peak year
2008
28 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2012 SSA rank
#13,272
Tracked since 1994
Census
Suriya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 556 people with the first name Suriya, which placed it at #19,177 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
#19,177
National first-name rank
People counted
556
556 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Suriya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Suriya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.0%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Suriya 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 Suriya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander65.5% · 364
- Two or more races11.0% · 61
- Black or African American9.7% · 54
- White7.4% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Suriya
Suriya leans heavily female at 96.0% of total registrations, but 10 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Suriya as a male name
- Ranked #13,952 in 2012
- 5 male births in 2012
- Peak: 2007 (5 births)
Suriya as a female name
- Ranked #13,272 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (28 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Suriya on both sides of the split. Of the 553 people counted with this name, 160 were male (28.9%) and 393 were female (71.1%).
Popularity
Suriya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Suriya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 115 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Suriya 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 Suriya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Suriyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Suriya
The name Suriya originates from the Sanskrit language, which was spoken in ancient India and is the root language of many modern Indian languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Surya," which means "sun" or "sun god." The name is closely associated with the Hindu deity Surya, who is revered as the sun god and is considered one of the most important deities in Hinduism.
The earliest known mention of the name Suriya can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Vedas and Puranas. In these texts, Suriya is often used as an epithet for the sun god Surya, who is described as the source of light, warmth, and life-giving energy.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Suriya was Suriya Siddhanta, an Indian astronomer and mathematician who lived in the 4th or 5th century CE. He is best known for his work on astronomy and for writing the Suriya Siddhanta, an influential treatise on Indian astronomy and mathematics.
Another notable historical figure with the name Suriya was Suriya Prakash, a 16th-century Indian poet and scholar from the Mughal Empire. He was renowned for his poetry and his contributions to the field of literature.
In the 18th century, Suriya Narain Rai was a prominent Indian ruler and founder of the Rai dynasty, which ruled over parts of present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India.
During the 19th century, Suriya Kant Tripathi, also known as Nirala, was a celebrated Hindi poet and writer. He is considered one of the most influential figures in modern Hindi literature and is known for his innovative and experimental writing style.
In more recent times, Suriya is the name of a popular Indian actor and film producer, who has starred in numerous Tamil-language films and has won several awards for his acting abilities.
While the name Suriya has its roots in ancient Hindu culture and mythology, it has transcended its religious and cultural boundaries and is now used across various communities and regions, particularly in India and other parts of South Asia.
People
Suriya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Suriya 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
Suriya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Suriya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 247 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Suriya 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 1,387,669 US residents.
Is Suriya a common name?
We classify Suriya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Suriya most popular?
The single biggest year for Suriya was 2008, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Suriya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Suriya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 556 people with the name Suriya, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,177 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 Suriya 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 Suriya?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Suriya on both sides of the split. Of the 553 people counted with this name, 160 were male (28.9%) and 393 were female (71.1%). 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 Suriya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Suriya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.0%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Suriya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Suriya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (364 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 Suriya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Suriya a female name?
Yes, 96.0% of people registered as Suriya 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 Suriya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Suriya 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 Suriya 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 share the name Suriya?
Want to know how many people share the name Suriya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.