| Huda | Sumaya | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Guidance | Little distinguishing mark; (also read as 'exalted') |
| Origin | Arabic | arabic |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | HOO-dah | soo-MY-yah |
| Syllables | 2 | 3 |
| First appeared | 1976 | 0 |
| Peak year | 2025 (117) | 2016 (109) |
| In 2025 | 117 | 0 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Steady |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Huda | Sumaya |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 479 | 413 |
| 2010s | 600 | 923 |
| 2000s | 518 | 631 |
| 1990s | 277 | 144 |
| 1980s | 125 | 26 |
| 1970s | 22 | 0 |
| 1960s | 0 | 5 |
Huda means “right guidance” in Arabic.
Sumaya (سمية, Sumayya) is a diminutive whose root is debated: classical research links it to the root w-s-m, giving 'a small distinguishing mark' and figuratively 'unique, special', while other sources derive it from s-m-w ('high, elevated') for a sense of 'exalted'. It is historically revered as the name of Sumayya bint Khayyat, regarded as the first martyr of Islam. Also spelled Sumayya or Sumayyah.
Huda is more popular than Sumaya today: about 117 US babies were given the name Huda in 2025, compared with 0 named Sumaya.
Huda means Guidance (Arabic origin), while Sumaya means Little distinguishing mark; (also read as 'exalted') (arabic origin).
In US records, Huda first appears in 1976 and Sumaya in 0, so Sumaya has the longer recorded history.