French form of Susanna, from Hebrew 'shoshan' meaning 'lily.'
Suzanne is the French flowering of one of the oldest names in continuous use in the Western world. Its root is the Hebrew Shoshana, meaning lily — specifically the white lily, symbol of purity and renewal in ancient Near Eastern culture. The name passed into Greek as Sousanna, then into Latin as Susanna, carried by the deuterocanonical Book of Daniel's story of Susanna, a virtuous woman falsely accused and ultimately vindicated — one of the earliest courtroom dramas in Western literature.
That story made the name an emblem of feminine courage and integrity throughout the medieval period. As Susanna moved through Europe it gathered regional forms: Susan in England, Susanna in Italy and Germany, Susanne in northern Europe, and Suzanne in France — the form that entered English literary and artistic culture with particular elegance. Notable bearers span centuries and continents: Suzanne Lenglen, the French tennis icon of the 1920s who revolutionized both the sport and women's athletic fashion; Susan B.
Anthony, the American suffragist (whose Susan shares the root); and the subject of Leonard Cohen's haunting 1966 song "Suzanne," which made the name synonymous with a certain bohemian, mystical romanticism for generations of listeners. Suzanne peaked in Anglophone popularity during the mid-20th century and has since softened into a name that feels warmly vintage rather than dated — carrying associations of French chic, literary sensibility, and a lilting, feminine grace that never entirely fades.