Susan

English

Etymology

English form of the biblical Susanna, from Biblical Hebrew שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (šōšannā, “lily”); compare with Egyptian 𓊃𓈙𓈖𓆸 (sšn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suːzən/
• Rhymes: -uːzən

Proper noun

Susan

1. A female given name.
   • ~1591 William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet: Act I, Scene III:

     Susan and she - God rest all Christian souls! - / Were of an age. Well, Susan is with God; / She was too good for me.

   • 1855 Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Bernhard Tauchnitz 1855, page 382:

     "With all my heart, though I have not an idea who little Susan may be. But I have a kindness for all Susans, for simple Susan's sake.

   • 1932 Ernest Weekley, Words and Names, J.Murray 1932, page 84:

     My own 'reaction' to the name Susan is a vision of a sturdy young woman garbed in 'print' and armed with a mop or other domestic implement, a picture compounded of a succession of domestic Susans passing before the eyes of early childhood. - - - It is symptomatic of the game of general post now being played by the classes and the masses that Susan is taking refuge, with Betty, Peggy, Jane and Ann, among the aristocracy, while Gladys and Muriel reign below stairs,

   • 2006 Anne Tyler, Digging to America, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 0307263940, pages 10, 62:

     Susan, they called her. They chose a name that resembled the name she had come with, Sooki, and also it was a comfortable sound for Iranians to pronounce. "Su-san!" Maryam would sing when she went in to get her from her nap. "Su-Su-Su!"

     - - - Even on issues pertaining to their daughter, the Yazdans took a very different approach. Imagine changing that charming name, Sooki, part of her native heritage, to plain old Susan!

Usage notes

• In continuous use since the Middle Ages, with the latest popularity peak in the mid-twentieth century.

Related terms

• variants: Susanna, Susannah, Susanne, Suzanne
• pet forms: Sue, Susie, Susy, Suzi, Suzie, Suzy

Derived terms

• Susanville

Translations

female given name

• Arabic: سْوْزَان f (swzān)
• Armenian: Շուշան (Šušan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蘇珊 (zh), 苏珊 (zh) (Sūshān)

• Czech: Zuzana (cs) f
• Danish: Susanne
• Esperanto: Susana
• Faroese: Súsanna f
• Finnish: Susanna (fi)
• French: Suzanne (fr)
• German: Susanne (de)
• Greek: Σουζάνα (el) (Souzána), Σουσάννα (Sousánna)
• Greenlandic: Suusaat
• Hawaiian: Kukana
• Hebrew: שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (he) (shoshána)
• Hungarian: Zsuzsanna (hu), Zsuzsa (hu)
• Inuktitut: ᓲᓴᓐ (suusan)
• Italian: Susanna (it)

• Japanese: スーザン (Sūzan)
• Korean: 수잔 (Sujan)
• Latvian: Zuzanna f
• Macedonian: Сузана f (Súzana or Suzána)
• Maori: Hūhana
• Northern Sami: Susánná
• Norwegian: Susanne (no)
• Persian: سوزان (fa) (Suzân)
• Polish: Zuzanna (pl) f
• Portuguese: Susana (pt)
• Russian: Суса́нна (ru) f (Susánna), Сюза́нна f (Sjuzánna), Сью́зан f (Sʹjúzan)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Сузана f

  Roman: Suzana f

• Slovak: Zuzana f
• Spanish: Susana (es)
• Swedish: Susanna (sv)
• Welsh: Swsan

Anagrams

• Ansus

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Danish

Proper noun

Susan

1. A female given name borrowed from English.