Head to head · Girls' names
Autumn vs Sarah
#88 vs #90 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Autumn is a whisker ahead (#88 vs #90 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Sarah leads 3 measures of 6; Autumn leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Autumn —, Sarah #15 — Sarah higher
- 1890s: Autumn —, Sarah #32 — Sarah higher
- 1900s: Autumn —, Sarah #43 — Sarah higher
- 1910s: Autumn #3147, Sarah #47 — Sarah higher
- 1920s: Autumn #4003, Sarah #58 — Sarah higher
- 1930s: Autumn #2835, Sarah #66 — Sarah higher
- 1940s: Autumn #3415, Sarah #76 — Sarah higher
- 1950s: Autumn #1979, Sarah #104 — Sarah higher
- 1960s: Autumn #1104, Sarah #92 — Sarah higher
- 1970s: Autumn #397, Sarah #28 — Sarah higher
- 1980s: Autumn #197, Sarah #5 — Sarah higher
- 1990s: Autumn #124, Sarah #5 — Sarah higher
- 2000s: Autumn #82, Sarah #13 — Sarah higher
- 2010s: Autumn #72, Sarah #53 — Sarah higher
- 2020s: Autumn #77, Sarah #91 — Autumn higher
Sarah stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Autumn took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Autumn | Sarah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #15 |
| 1890s | — | #32 |
| 1900s | — | #43 |
| 1910s | #3147 | #47 |
| 1920s | #4003 | #58 |
| 1930s | #2835 | #66 |
| 1940s | #3415 | #76 |
| 1950s | #1979 | #104 |
| 1960s | #1104 | #92 |
| 1970s | #397 | #28 |
| 1980s | #197 | #5 |
| 1990s | #124 | #5 |
| 2000s | #82 | #13 |
| 2010s | #72 | #53 |
| 2020s | #77 | #91 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Autumn
Not charting outside the US.
Sarah
- Canada#56
- France#64
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Autumn
The season of autumn, the fall of the year
The name is simply the English season word, so its sense is plain. The deeper root of the Latin autumnus is a different matter — Latin scholars have never settled it, and a borrowing from Etruscan is one of the readings put forward.
Autumnus (Latin) → Autompne (Old French) → Autumpne (Middle English) → Autumn
How it traveled
The Latin autumnus passed into Old French as autompne and reached Middle English in the fourteenth century, spelled with the -mn ending it still carries. For a long stretch, English speakers called the season harvest; autumn gradually took over as the neutral word, with fall developing later and becoming the everyday American term.
Sarah
princess, noblewoman
The Hebrew is a title rather than a description, and it was given as a replacement for an earlier name. The reading has never been seriously disputed.
Sarai → Sarah
How it traveled
The first piece of land anyone in the Bible buys is bought to bury her. When Sarah dies at Hebron, Abraham — who has been promised the whole country and owns none of it — approaches the local landowners and asks to purchase a burial cave.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Autumn
AW-tum
Two syllables. The final n is silent, exactly as in column and hymn, so the name ends on the m.
- Auttie — Informal family short form; almost never used on paper.
- Aut — Clipped one-syllable form used among friends and siblings, pronounced like "ought."
Sarah
SAIR-uh
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Continental Europe says SAH-rah, with the vowel of father, and the h-less spelling is the usual one there.
- Sadie — An older short form arrived at by a change of consonant; now a standing name of its own.
- Sal — An eighteenth and nineteenth-century short form, now largely retired.
- Sassy — An affectionate form used inside families.
- Sar — Cut to one syllable; the commonest modern informal form.
Who has carried each name
Autumn
No documented entry for Autumn yet.
Sarah
Sarah Bernhardt (b. 1844) — The world's first international superstar actress
Sarah Jessica Parker (b. 1965) — Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw
Sarah Michelle Gellar (b. 1977) — Buffy the Vampire Slayer herself
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Autumn if you want…
- a newer arrivalAutumn entered the US charts in 1910
- a name that feels very nowAutumn is holding its place on the charts
Choose Sarah if you want…
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Sadie, Sal and Sassy
- a name that charts abroad tooSarah is on the national lists of Canada and France
- a long American recordSarah was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Autumn
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Autumn
Strengths
- Everyone who reads English already knows the spelling — it is a word in the dictionary, so it rarely needs repeating or clarifying.
- Pronunciation is fixed for English speakers: one reading, no regional variants, no correcting.
- A long, continuous record in American use rather than a recent arrival, and still turning up in kindergartens.
To consider
- The silent n invites the misspelling "Autum," and young children learning to write their own name have a small hurdle in that -mn ending.
- It is tied to one season, so expect the occasional question about a birthday in September or October — a mild, lifelong bit of small talk.
- Outside English, the word means nothing, so speakers of other languages will hear it as a sound rather than a season.
Sarah
Strengths
- It is recognized in Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition alike, which almost no other name manages.
- It has a form in every European language and in Arabic and Hebrew.
- The meaning is short, settled and easy to explain to a child.
To consider
- Sara without the h is equally correct and will be written for you constantly.
- It is extremely common across several generations, so a child may share it with others.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Autumn
40%chance Autumn feels dated by 2040
Autumn sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Sarah
12%chance Sarah feels dated by 2040
Sarah has held the top-100 across 14 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Autumn and Sarah in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Autumn and Sarah?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Autumn and Sarah — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Autumn or Sarah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Autumn or Sarah?
- Autumn, in 2025: Autumn ranked #88 with 2,805 babies; Sarah ranked #90 with 2,710 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Autumn or Sarah?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Autumn moved down 6 places; Sarah moved down 4 places.
- Which is the older name, Autumn or Sarah?
- Autumn entered the US charts in 1910; Sarah was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Sarah is the older name.
- How many people are named Autumn and Sarah?
- About 144,000 people named Autumn are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 895,000 people named Sarah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Autumns or Sarahs in the classroom?
- Autumn will almost certainly be the only one in school. Sarah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Autumn, Sarah and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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