Soraya

Where Soraya comes from

Borrowed from Iranian Persian ثریا (sorayyâ), from Classical Persian ثریا (surayyā, “brilliant gem; Pleiades”), ultimately from Arabic ثُرَيَّا (ṯurayyā).
— Wiktionary's entry for Soraya
  • Persian
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1932
    Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari born
    Queen consort of Iran from 1951 to 1958
  2. 1955
    First appearance
    #5,208 among girls, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1971
    Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría born
    Spanish politician
  4. 2025
    Peak, #862
    313 babies named Soraya — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Persian.
Namesakes
  • Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari · Queen consort of Iran from 1951 to 1958, 1932–2001
  • Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría · Spanish politician, born 1971
  • Soraya Arnelas · Spanish singer, songwriter, actress and model, born 1982
  • Soraya Tarzi · Princess Consort (1919-1926), later Queen Consort of King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan, 1899–1968
  • Soraya Haddad · Algerian judoka, born 1984

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.