Suzette
A feminine French diminutive name meaning "little lily".
Name Census estimates that about 13,610 living Americans carry the first name Suzette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Suzette today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Suzette births was 1964 (719 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Suzette. 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
14K
~ 1 in 25,184 Americans
Peak year
1964
719 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1967 SSA rank
#4,470
Tracked since 1912
Census
Suzette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 16,526 people with the first name Suzette, which placed it at #1,795 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
#1,795
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
16,526 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Suzette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Suzette is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Suzette 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 Suzette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.3% · 9,312
- Black or African American18.3% · 3,019
- Hispanic or Latino16.7% · 2,761
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 776
- Two or more races3.0% · 500
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 158
Gender
Gender distribution for Suzette
Out of the 16,939 babies given the name Suzette since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Suzette as a male name
- Ranked #4,470 in 1967
- 5 male births in 1967
- Peak: 1967 (5 births)
Suzette as a female name
- Ranked #4,748 in 2024
- 29 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (719 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Suzette appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,531 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Suzette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Suzette from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 6,160 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
Suzette 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 Suzette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Suzettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Suzette, while Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 299 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Suzette
The name Suzette is a French diminutive form of the name Susanne, which itself derives from the Hebrew name Shoshana, meaning "lily" or "rose." The name is believed to have originated in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Suzette can be found in the 16th-century French novel "L'Heptaméron" by Marguerite de Navarre, where a character named Suzette appears. The name was particularly popular in France during the Renaissance period.
In the 17th century, the name gained some prominence with the French actress and opera singer Suzanne Henriette de Lévieux, better known by her stage name Mademoiselle Suzette (1655-1728). She was a celebrated performer in the court of Louis XIV.
Another notable bearer of the name was Suzette Grivat (1793-1868), a French actress and dancer who performed at the Opéra de Paris during the early 19th century. She was renowned for her roles in various ballets and pantomimes.
In the literary world, the name Suzette is associated with the character Suzette Michu in Honoré de Balzac's novel "Les Paysans" (The Peasants), published in 1844. Michu was a young peasant girl who played a significant role in the story.
During the late 19th century, the name gained further recognition with the creation of the famous French dessert "Crêpes Suzette" by the French chef Auguste Escoffier. The dish was named after a young woman named Suzette, though the exact identity of this individual remains unclear.
In the 20th century, one of the most notable bearers of the name was Suzette Grofe (1903-1989), an American actress and dancer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the 1920s and 1930s.
People
Suzette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Suzette 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
Suzette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Suzette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,610 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Suzette 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 25,184 US residents.
Is Suzette a common name?
We classify Suzette as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,939 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Suzette most popular?
The single biggest year for Suzette was 1964, when 719 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Suzette is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Suzette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 16,526 people with the name Suzette, or 5.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,795 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 Suzette 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 Suzette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Suzette appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,531 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Suzette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Suzette is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Suzette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Suzette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (9,312 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 Suzette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Suzette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Suzette 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 Suzette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Suzette 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 Suzette 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 Suzette?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.