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Girl · Hebrew
Susanna
Say it: soo-ZAN-uh
Meaning
Hebrew Shoshannah, 'lily' (or lotus), probably from an Egyptian word for the lotus flower.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Spread through the apocryphal story of Susanna and a woman of that name in Luke 8, and common in England from the 16th century.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 19,107 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1886, about 1 in 3,500 girls
- 157 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
HebrewEarly ChristianEnglishFrenchGermanSpanishItalianPolishHungarian
The family of the name
Other spellings: Susannah, Suzanna, Susan
| French | Suzanne |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Susana |
| Italian | Susanna |
| Portuguese | Susana |
| German | Susanne |
| Polish | Zuzanna |
| Hungarian | Zsuzsanna |
| Hebrew | Shoshana |
Famous bearers
- Susanna, heroine of the story of Susanna and the Elders
- Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Apocrypha and other early religious writings
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.