Soriah
A rare feminine name derived from Arabic meaning "celestial wanderer or traveler".
Name Census estimates that about 432 living Americans carry the first name Soriah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Soriah today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Soriah births was 2022 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Soriah. 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 Soriah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
432
~ 1 in 793,413 Americans
Peak year
2022
53 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,194
Tracked since 1992
Census
Soriah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 282 people with the first name Soriah, which placed it at #30,717 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
#30,717
National first-name rank
People counted
282
282 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Soriah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Soriah is Black at 35.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.4%) and White (17.4%). 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 Soriah 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 Soriah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.8% · 101
- Hispanic or Latino34.4% · 97
- White17.4% · 49
- Two or more races9.6% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 8
Popularity
Soriah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Soriah 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 153 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Soriah 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 Soriah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Soriahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Soriah, while South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Soriah
The given name Soriah is believed to have its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, which was spoken in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3000 BCE. The name is thought to derive from the Sumerian words "sur" meaning "to shine" and "iah" meaning "celestial body," suggesting a connection to the heavenly realms.
One of the earliest known references to the name Soriah can be found in the Sumerian clay tablets from the city of Uruk, dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE. These tablets were discovered during archaeological excavations in the late 19th century and contained lists of names, many of which were associated with celestial deities and astronomical events.
In the ancient Sumerian mythology, Soriah was believed to be the name of a minor goddess associated with the stars and celestial bodies. However, there is limited information available about her specific role or significance within the Sumerian pantheon.
Throughout history, the name Soriah has been borne by various individuals, although records are scarce. One notable figure was Soriah of Nippur, a Sumerian priestess who lived in the city of Nippur around 2500 BCE. She is mentioned in cuneiform inscriptions as a prominent figure in the religious life of the city.
Another historical figure bearing the name Soriah was a Babylonian scholar who lived during the reign of King Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750 BCE). This Soriah is credited with contributing to the development of astronomical knowledge and the study of celestial bodies in ancient Mesopotamia.
Fast-forwarding to more recent times, Soriah al-Husseini (1886–1963) was a prominent Palestinian Arab nationalist and politician who played a significant role in the Arab Revolt against British rule in the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, Soriah Farouki (1924–2004) was a renowned Syrian-born author and poet who wrote extensively about the Arab world and its cultural heritage.
Finally, Soriah Baghdadi (1934–2015) was an Iraqi sculptor and artist whose works explored themes of identity, displacement, and the complexities of the human experience.
While the name Soriah has fallen into relative obscurity in modern times, its ancient roots and celestial connotations provide a fascinating glimpse into the rich cultural tapestry of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
People
Soriah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Soriah 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
Soriah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Soriah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 432 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Soriah 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 793,413 US residents.
Is Soriah a common name?
We classify Soriah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 437 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Soriah most popular?
The single biggest year for Soriah was 2022, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Soriah is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Soriah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 282 people with the name Soriah, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,717 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 Soriah 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 Soriah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Soriah appears almost entirely female. Of the 283 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Soriah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Soriah is Black at 35.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.4%) and White (17.4%). 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 Soriah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Soriah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.8% (101 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 Soriah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Soriah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Soriah 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 Soriah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Soriah 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 Soriah 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 have Soriah as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.