Susi
A feminine diminutive form of the German name Susanne or Susanna.
Name Census estimates that about 319 living Americans carry the first name Susi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Susi today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Susi births was 1962 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Susi. 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.
People living today
319
~ 1 in 1,074,465 Americans
Peak year
1962
25 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2017 SSA rank
#15,714
Tracked since 1945
Census
Susi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 908 people with the first name Susi, which placed it at #13,344 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
#13,344
National first-name rank
People counted
908
908 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Susi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Susi is White at 46.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.2%). 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 Susi 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 Susi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.5% · 422
- Hispanic or Latino35.1% · 319
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.2% · 129
- Black or African American2.3% · 21
- Two or more races1.3% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Popularity
Susi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Susi from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 131 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Susi 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 Susi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Susis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Susi
The given name Susi originated from the Sanskrit language, which dates back to around the 2nd millennium BCE in ancient India. It is a diminutive form of the name Susamā, which means "ear of corn" or "lily." The name Susi was commonly used in various parts of the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regions where Sanskrit had a significant influence.
Susi has been recorded in several ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Vedas and the Puranas. In these texts, the name is often associated with goddesses or female characters symbolizing fertility, abundance, and beauty. One notable example is the character Susi, mentioned in the Mahabharata, who was known for her exceptional skills in weaving and embroidery.
The earliest recorded use of the name Susi dates back to the 5th century BCE, as evidenced by inscriptions found on ancient pottery and other artifacts from the region. Throughout history, several notable figures have borne this name, including Susi, a renowned painter and artist from the Gupta period (320-550 CE) in India, known for her exquisite murals and frescoes adorning various temples and palaces.
During the medieval period, Susi was a popular name among the ruling dynasties of the Indian subcontinent. One notable figure was Rani Susi Devi (1504-1557), who was the queen consort of the Rajput ruler Maharana Sangram Singh of Mewar. She was renowned for her courage, wisdom, and her role in defending the Chittorgarh Fort against the Mughal forces led by Emperor Akbar.
In the 18th century, Susi Ganesan (1720-1795) was a celebrated poet and scholar from Tamil Nadu, India. She was highly acclaimed for her contributions to Tamil literature and her mastery of various poetic forms, including the venba and the kali genres.
Another prominent figure was Susi Dutt (1825-1890), an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer from Bengal. She actively participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company and played a vital role in mobilizing support for the independence movement.
These are just a few examples of notable figures throughout history who bore the name Susi, a name that has been deeply rooted in the cultural and literary traditions of the Indian subcontinent for centuries.
People
Susi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Susi 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
Susi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Susi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 319 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Susi 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 1,074,465 US residents.
Is Susi a common name?
We classify Susi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 392 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Susi most popular?
The single biggest year for Susi was 1962, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Susi is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Susi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 908 people with the name Susi, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,344 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 Susi 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 Susi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Susi appears almost entirely female. Of the 909 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Susi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Susi is White at 46.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.2%). 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 Susi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Susi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.5% (422 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 Susi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Susi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Susi 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 Susi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Susi 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 Susi 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 common is the name Susi?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.