Soo
A feminine Korean name meaning "beautiful" or "excellence".
Name Census estimates that about 199 living Americans carry the first name Soo. It is a predominantly female name (91.5% of registrations). The average person named Soo today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Soo births was 1984 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Soo. 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
199
~ 1 in 1,722,384 Americans
Peak year
1984
15 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1994 SSA rank
#10,051
Tracked since 1961
Census
Soo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,608 people with the first name Soo, which placed it at #4,930 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
#4,930
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,608 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Soo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Soo is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Hispanic (0.5%). 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 Soo 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 Soo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.7% · 3,526
- White1.2% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 17
- Two or more races0.5% · 17
- Black or African American0.1% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Soo
Soo leans heavily female at 91.5% of total registrations, but 18 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Soo as a male name
- Ranked #10,051 in 1994
- 5 male births in 1994
- Peak: 1984 (8 births)
Soo as a female name
- Ranked #18,446 in 2004
- 5 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1990 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Soo on both sides of the split. Of the 3,613 people counted with this name, 969 were male (26.8%) and 2,644 were female (73.2%).
Popularity
Soo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Soo from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 72 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Soo 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 Soo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Soos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Soo
The name Soo has its origins in Korean culture, derived from the Korean word "su" which means "water" or "pure." It is believed to have been in use since at least the 7th century AD during the Silla Kingdom period on the Korean Peninsula.
In ancient Korean mythology, there are references to figures with the name Soo, often associated with bodies of water or purity. The name appears in some early Buddhist texts translated into Korean during the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC - 935 AD).
One of the earliest recorded people with the name Soo was Queen Soo of Silla (628-681 AD), the 28th monarch of the Silla Kingdom. She is known for her military achievements in unifying the Korean Peninsula under Silla rule during her 25-year reign.
In the 13th century, the Buddhist monk Soo Gye-Sang (1226-1289) was a prominent figure in Korea, known for his calligraphy and poetry. His works are still studied and celebrated today.
During the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), Soo Ye-Hwang (1551-1625) was a respected scholar and advisor to several kings. He is remembered for his contributions to neo-Confucian philosophy and education reforms.
In the early 20th century, Soo Man-Soo (1904-1970) was a pioneering Korean painter who helped introduce Western art styles and techniques to Korea. His work played a significant role in the development of modern Korean art.
The Korean independence activist Soo Bahk Ki (1876-1936) is renowned for his efforts in resisting Japanese colonial rule in the early 1900s. He organized and led various resistance movements against the Japanese occupation of Korea.
People
Soo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Soo 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
Soo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Soo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 199 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Soo 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 1,722,384 US residents.
Is Soo a common name?
We classify Soo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 211 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Soo most popular?
The single biggest year for Soo was 1984, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Soo is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Soo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,608 people with the name Soo, or 1.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,930 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 Soo 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 Soo?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Soo on both sides of the split. Of the 3,613 people counted with this name, 969 were male (26.8%) and 2,644 were female (73.2%). 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 Soo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Soo is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Hispanic (0.5%). 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 Soo most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Soo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.7% (3,526 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 Soo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Soo a female name?
Yes, 91.5% of people registered as Soo 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 Soo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Soo 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 Soo 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 Soo?
See how many Americans are named Soo on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.