Holding steady.
Popularity of Soo since 1961
Babies named Soo per year in U.S. Social Security records.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 5 | 0 |
| 1970s | 48 | 0 |
| 1980s | 59 | 13 |
| 1990s | 64 | 5 |
| 2000s | 17 | 0 |
| 2010s | 0 | 0 |
| 2020s | 0 | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Soo is a short, versatile name that entered U.S. records in 1961 but has never ranked among the top 1000 names and remains very rare. Its peak popularity occurred in 1990, and the name has shown a stable trajectory in the decades since. The one-in-N ratio is not available due to its rarity, but it is carried by a small number of individuals each year. Soo's usage in the United States likely reflects both Korean American and Chinese American communities, where it can be a standalone name or a component of longer names. Despite its low frequency, Soo retains a modern, cross-cultural appeal.
Soo is a unisex name common in Korean and Chinese contexts. In Korean, it can be a standalone name or appear as a syllable in compound given names like Soo-ji or Min-soo, often meaning 'excellent' or 'long life' depending on the hanja used. In Chinese (Cantonese), it may represent the character 甦 (sou1) meaning 'dawn' or 'revive'. However, in the United States, it is often used as a standalone name, sometimes a variant of Sue or a shortened form of other names.
Nicknames & variants
Sibling names for Soo
Names that share Soo's style, for a brother or sister.
