Given name · also Old English
Sunniva
“gift of the sun”
Sunniva is used as a given name. One English interpretation is “gift of the sun.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “gift of the sun.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Old English.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2005. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Sunniva through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 178
- 0 boys · 178 girls
- Most popular year
- 2023
- 30 babies
- 2025
- 25
- #5,219 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +165%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 25 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 5,219 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 165.0% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Sunniva’s family of names
Sunniva shares a linguistic root with Synnöve. Sunniva has a related form in Sunn. In Faroese usage, Sunniva has a related form in SUNNEVA.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 6
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Sunniva
- SunnivaNorwegian saint901
- Sunniva Næs AndersenNorwegian handball playerborn 1996
- Sunniva GylverNorwegian Lutheran priestborn 1967
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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