Sumner

Where Sumner comes from

Sumner hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1868
    Sumner Paine born
    American sport shooter
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #600 among boys — 10 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1883
    Peak, #527
    12 babies named Sumner — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1887
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #921.
  5. 1892
    Sumner Welles born
    American government official and diplomat
  6. 2024
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Sumner Paine · American sport shooter, 1868–1904
  • Sumner Welles · American government official and diplomat, 1892–1961
  • Sumner Redstone · American businessman and media magnate, 1923–2020
  • Sumner White · American sailor, 1929–1988
  • Sumner Getchell · actor, 1906–1990

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.