Humanverse

Susan vs Susette

American parents have registered 1,126,022 Susans since 1880, against 1,042 Susettes. Susan is still ahead, with 222 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Susan against Susette, 1880 to 2025 0 12.5k 25k 37.5k 50k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Susan Susette

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Susan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2011, when Susan had 357 and Susette had 5.

Side by side

  Susan Susette
Total US births 1,126,0221,042
Most in one year 47,48356
Babies in 2025 222under 5
Estimated living today 875,000880
Median age today 6761
Peak year 19551967
Best rank 5th girls1,495th girls
Rank in 2025 1,085thunranked
First recorded 18801943
Girls / boys 1,123,481 / 2,5411,042 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Susans alive today are over 67; half the Susettes are over 61. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Susan and Susette.