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Sunniva

#5,218 in 2025Girls' name

Sun + gift

Sunniva has been given to 178 babies in the U.S. since 2005. In 2025 it ranked #5,218 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 30 recorded.

Babies named Sunniva, 2025

1 in 133,000

Sunniva over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sunniva: meaning, origin, and history

Sun + gift

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Sunniva means

Sunniva means “sun + gift”, associated with sunne and ġifu.

Origin, language, and formation

Sunniva is used in Faroese and Norwegian.

Sunniva comes through Old English Sunnġifu.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Faroese, Sunniva is pronounced /ˈsʊnːɪva/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 178 girls were recorded with the name Sunniva between 2005 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 30 in 2023; its best national rank was #4,643 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #9,464 in 2020 to #5,218 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #10,773 in 2015 to #5,218 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Sunniva?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 133,000
25 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 64,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#5,218
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
91,917 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sunniva sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 91,917 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sunniva. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sunnivas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sunniva was born before 2021 — so the typical Sunniva is around 4 today.

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
65.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
178
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 65.7% of all recorded uses (117).

Is Sunniva rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+2,000
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+4,246
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+5,555
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.50×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
83.3%
Peak was 2023 (30)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
42.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,643
2023

Spellings of Sunniva

Sunniva is not the most common spelling — Sunnie is, with 44.5% against Sunniva's 2.9%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Sunniva around the world

Where Sunniva ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2005–2022
    #5,670
    in 2022
  • France
    1988–2017
    #5,740
    in 2017
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #89
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    2003–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Sunniva by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#5,218
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 4,246
Best rank ever
#4,643
2023
Peak year
2023
30 that year
First recorded
2005
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
178
Count in 2025
25

Names similar to Sunniva

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SunainaSundaiSunsetSundaeSunflowerSundusSunjaiChavivaSuniyahSunisaSundeeSunshyneSundiSundariSuniNeivaSunyaSunitaSundraSundyGenivaSunairaSuniyaSunnie

Sibling names for Sunniva

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Sunniva

Top names of 2023, Sunniva's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2023Girls' names starting with S