Sultana
A feminine name meaning "female monarch" or "queen" in Arabic.
Name Census estimates that about 263 living Americans carry the first name Sultana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sultana today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sultana births was 2024 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sultana. 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 Sultana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
263
~ 1 in 1,303,248 Americans
Peak year
2024
14 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,884
Tracked since 1948
Census
Sultana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,528 people with the first name Sultana, which placed it at #9,204 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
#9,204
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,528 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
70.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sultana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sultana is Asian/Pacific Islander at 70.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.6%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Sultana 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 Sultana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander70.7% · 1,081
- White16.6% · 254
- Black or African American6.2% · 95
- Two or more races5.1% · 78
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Sultana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sultana from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 62 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sultana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sultana 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 Sultana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sultanas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sultana
The name Sultana originates from the Arabic word "Sultān" which means ruler or monarch. This name is rooted in the Islamic culture and can be traced back to the 7th century CE when the first Islamic caliphates were established in the Middle East.
One of the earliest known references to the name Sultana can be found in the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. The word "Sultān" is used to describe the authority and power bestowed upon prophets and messengers of God.
During the golden age of Islamic civilization, the title "Sultana" was used to refer to the wife or mother of a Sultan, the sovereign ruler of a Muslim state or empire. This usage became particularly prevalent during the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over vast territories from the 14th to the 20th century.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Sultana can be found in historical records and chronicles from the medieval period. One notable example is Sultana Raziya (1205-1240), who briefly ruled the Delhi Sultanate in India and was one of the few female Muslim rulers of the time.
Another famous Sultana was Hurrem Sultan (1504-1558), the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She was a powerful figure in the Ottoman court and played a significant role in shaping the empire's policies and culture.
In the 16th century, the name Sultana gained popularity among Muslim rulers in South Asia. One prominent example is Sultana Chand Bibi (1550-1599), who defended the Bijapur Sultanate in present-day India against the Mughal Empire.
During the 19th century, the name Sultana was also used by European nobility and royalty. Princess Sultana Valida (1809-1876) was the mother of Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz I and held significant influence in the palace.
Another notable figure was Princess Sultana of Oman (1925-1994), who was the daughter of Sultan Said bin Taimur and played an important role in promoting education and women's rights in the country.
People
Sultana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sultana 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
Sultana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sultana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sultana 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 1,303,248 US residents.
Is Sultana a common name?
We classify Sultana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 275 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sultana most popular?
The single biggest year for Sultana was 2024, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sultana is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sultana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,528 people with the name Sultana, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,204 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 Sultana 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 Sultana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sultana appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,523 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Sultana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sultana is Asian/Pacific Islander at 70.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.6%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Sultana most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Sultana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.7% (1,081 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 Sultana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sultana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sultana 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 Sultana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sultana 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 Sultana 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 Sultana?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.