Sufian
Of Arabic origin, meaning "wise" or "learned scholar".
Name Census estimates that about 187 living Americans carry the first name Sufian. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sufian today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sufian births was 2024 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sufian. 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 Sufian with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
187
~ 1 in 1,832,911 Americans
Peak year
2024
18 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,399
Tracked since 1994
Census
Sufian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 312 people with the first name Sufian, which placed it at #28,685 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
#28,685
National first-name rank
People counted
312
312 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sufian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sufian is White at 47.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (35.9%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Sufian 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 Sufian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.4% · 148
- Asian and Pacific Islander35.9% · 112
- Black or African American9.6% · 30
- Two or more races4.2% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 9
Popularity
Sufian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sufian 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 77 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
Sufian 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 Sufian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sufians live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sufian
The name Sufian has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the root word "safa," which means "pure" or "sincere." It is a name that carries a strong connection to Islamic culture and tradition.
The earliest recorded usage of the name Sufian can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. One of the most famous historical figures to bear this name was Sufian ibn Awf, a companion of the Prophet and one of the early converts to Islam. He played a significant role in the early Muslim community and was known for his wisdom and piety.
Another prominent figure in Islamic history who bore the name Sufian was Sufian al-Thawri, a renowned scholar and jurist who lived in the 8th century CE. He was a prominent figure in the field of Islamic jurisprudence and is considered one of the founders of the Hanafi school of Islamic law.
In the realm of literature, Sufian ibn Uyaynah, an Arab scholar and hadith collector from the 8th century CE, is remembered for his contributions to the preservation and transmission of the prophetic traditions.
Moving forward in history, Sufian ibn Idris, a Moroccan scholar and poet from the 12th century CE, left a lasting impact on the literary and cultural landscape of the region with his poetic works and contributions to Islamic mysticism.
Another notable figure was Sufian ibn Abd al-Malik, an Umayyad prince and military commander who lived in the 8th century CE. He played a significant role in the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate and was known for his military prowess and leadership skills.
While the name Sufian has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic tradition, it has also been adopted and used in various cultures and regions around the world, albeit with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation.
People
Sufian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sufian 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
Sufian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sufian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 187 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sufian 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 1,832,911 US residents.
Is Sufian a common name?
We classify Sufian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sufian most popular?
The single biggest year for Sufian was 2024, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sufian is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sufian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 312 people with the name Sufian, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,685 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 Sufian 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 Sufian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sufian appears almost entirely male. Of the 315 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Sufian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sufian is White at 47.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (35.9%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Sufian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sufian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.4% (148 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 Sufian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sufian a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sufian in the SSA data are male. 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 Sufian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sufian 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 Sufian 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 the name Sufian?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.