Suhaylah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "little gazelle" or "small bright star".
Name Census estimates that about 319 living Americans carry the first name Suhaylah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Suhaylah today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Suhaylah births was 2015 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Suhaylah. 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 Suhaylah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
319
~ 1 in 1,074,465 Americans
Peak year
2015
25 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,002
Tracked since 1991
Popularity
Suhaylah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Suhaylah 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 180 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Suhaylah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Suhaylah 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 Suhaylah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Suhaylahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Suhaylah
The name Suhaylah originates from the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "suhayl," which means "the Pleiades" or "the bright star cluster." The name is believed to have been in use since ancient times in the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Suhaylah can be found in ancient Arabic poetry and literature. The name was often used as a poetic reference to the beauty and brilliance of the Pleiades star cluster, which held significant cultural and astronomical importance in the region.
In Islamic tradition, the name Suhaylah is associated with the story of the Prophet Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. According to historical accounts, the Prophet and his companion, Abu Bakr, took refuge in a cave known as Ghar Thawr, where they were guided by the Pleiades star cluster, referred to as Suhaylah, to find their way to safety.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Suhaylah. One of the earliest recorded examples is Suhaylah bint al-Husayn (born around 650 CE), a renowned Arabian poet and scholar from the Umayyad dynasty. Another prominent figure was Suhaylah al-Malikah (born around 1070 CE), a princess and patron of the arts during the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt.
In the 12th century, Suhaylah bint al-Muhtadi (born around 1120 CE) was a influential female scholar and teacher in Baghdad, known for her expertise in various fields, including literature, poetry, and Islamic jurisprudence. Suhaylah al-Andalusiyah (born around 1180 CE) was a renowned Andalusian poet and writer from the Almohad dynasty in Spain.
More recently, Suhaylah al-Qurashiyah (born in 1911, died in 1997) was a prominent Syrian writer, poet, and activist who played a significant role in the Arab literary renaissance and women's rights movements in the 20th century.
While the name Suhaylah has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has also gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly among Arabic-speaking communities and those with ties to the Middle East and North Africa.
People
Suhaylah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Suhaylah 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
Suhaylah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Suhaylah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 319 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Suhaylah 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 1,074,465 US residents.
Is Suhaylah a common name?
We classify Suhaylah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 322 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Suhaylah most popular?
The single biggest year for Suhaylah was 2015, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Suhaylah is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Suhaylah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Suhaylah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Suhaylah 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 Suhaylah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Suhaylah 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 Suhaylah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Suhaylah?
See how many Americans are named Suhaylah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.