Head to head · Girls' names
Sabrina vs Samara
#321 vs #320 in 2025
Samara is a whisker ahead (#320 vs #321 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Samara is holding its place on the charts, Sabrina is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Sabrina has the edge.
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, Sabrina leads 4 measures of 6; Samara 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
- 1910s: Sabrina #4334, Samara — — Sabrina higher
- 1930s: Sabrina #3782, Samara — — Sabrina higher
- 1940s: Sabrina #3999, Samara #5244 — Sabrina higher
- 1950s: Sabrina #1298, Samara #4877 — Sabrina higher
- 1960s: Sabrina #263, Samara #3430 — Sabrina higher
- 1970s: Sabrina #135, Samara #1286 — Sabrina higher
- 1980s: Sabrina #118, Samara #1263 — Sabrina higher
- 1990s: Sabrina #90, Samara #1060 — Sabrina higher
- 2000s: Sabrina #159, Samara #571 — Sabrina higher
- 2010s: Sabrina #334, Samara #496 — Sabrina higher
- 2020s: Sabrina #379, Samara #319 — Samara higher
Sabrina stood higher in 10 of 11 decades; Samara took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Sabrina | Samara |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4334 | — |
| 1930s | #3782 | — |
| 1940s | #3999 | #5244 |
| 1950s | #1298 | #4877 |
| 1960s | #263 | #3430 |
| 1970s | #135 | #1286 |
| 1980s | #118 | #1263 |
| 1990s | #90 | #1060 |
| 2000s | #159 | #571 |
| 2010s | #334 | #496 |
| 2020s | #379 | #319 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Sabrina
From Sabrina, the Roman name for the River Severn in Britain
That the name is the river's name is not in doubt. What the river name itself meant is another matter: it predates the Roman record and no reading has been established, so the trail stops at the water.
Sabrina (Roman name of the River Severn) → Hafren (Welsh) → Severn (English) → Sabrina (given name)
How it traveled
Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written in the twelfth century, tells of Habren, a king's illegitimate daughter drowned in the river that afterwards bore her name — the Welsh Hafren, the Latin Sabrina, the English Severn. John Milton made her a river goddess in his masque Comus in the 1630s, and from there Sabrina passed into English poetry as a name for the Severn's spirit.
Samara
Several competing readings, none of them the single source
In Latin, samara is the winged seed of the elm — still the botanical term in English for a maple or ash key. In Sanskrit, samara means battle or conflict. The Arabic root s-m-r, behind names like Samar and Samira, carries the sense of evening talk and companionship. Separately, Samara is a major Russian city on the Volga, and the name resembles Samaria, the biblical region. These are genuinely distinct origins that happen to meet at one spelling.
How it traveled
There is no single road into Samara; there are several that converge. Latin gave English samara as a technical word for a winged seed, and it sits in botany textbooks to this day.
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
Sabrina
suh-BREE-nuh
Stress on the middle syllable. The pronunciation holds steady across English, Spanish, Italian and German, which is unusual for a three-syllable name.
- Bri — Informal, and the most common short form; also spelled Bree, where it stands alone as a given name.
- Sab — Informal, family-and-friends use rather than anything written down.
- Rina — Informal; also a full given name in its own right in Italian and Japanese contexts.
- Sabby — Affectionate, mostly used with children.
- Also Bina.
Samara
suh-MAR-uh
Most common in the US is suh-MAR-uh or suh-MAH-ruh. SAM-uh-ruh, with the stress up front, is also used and is the standard reading of the botanical word. Both are correct; families usually pick one and repeat it.
- Sam — The obvious informal short form; also stands alone as a given name for both girls and boys.
- Sammy — Informal and affectionate, used across generations; also independent as a name.
- Mara — Takes the back half instead of the front; an established given name in its own right in several languages.
- Sami — Informal; used in English and also independently in Arabic- and Finnish-speaking contexts.
- Also Sara.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Sabrina if you want…
- a name on the way upup 67 places on the charts in five years
Choose Samara if you want…
- a name holding steadySamara is holding its place on the charts
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
Sabrina
Strengths
- A spelling almost everyone in the US already knows how to write, thanks to decades of film and television use.
- Says itself the same way in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German — useful in a bilingual family.
- Several ready-made short forms, from Bri to Rina, without needing to be shortened.
To consider
- The comic and television witch is still the first association for a lot of people, and it comes with a joke or two attached. It has faded considerably, but it has not gone.
- Bri and Bree are shared territory with Brianna, Brielle and Briana, so the short form will not be distinctive even if the full name is.
- Sabina is a separate, older Roman name that looks and sounds close enough to cause the occasional mix-up in writing and over the phone.
Samara
Strengths
- Ready-made short forms that need no explaining: Sam, Sammy, Mara.
- The spelling is an existing English word, so it can be written down from hearing it more often than most three-syllable names.
- Recognizable in Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese contexts, which travels well across a mixed family.
To consider
- The stress is genuinely unsettled — suh-MAR-uh and SAM-uh-ruh both circulate. Expect to correct people occasionally, and to hear it said your way only after you have said it first.
- Samara Morgan is the child at the center of the 2002 horror film The Ring. The association means less to younger people than to those who saw it at the time, but it does exist.
- It sits close to Samira, Samantha and Sahara in the ear, so mishearings and near-miss spellings are likely on forms and roll calls.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Sabrina and Samara 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 Sabrina and Samara?
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 Sabrina and Samara — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Sabrina or Samara — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Sabrina or Samara?
- Samara, in 2025: Samara ranked #320 with 957 babies; Sabrina ranked #321 with 956 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Sabrina or Samara?
- Sabrina. Over the last five years Sabrina moved up 67 places; Samara moved up 31 places.
- Which is the older name, Sabrina or Samara?
- Sabrina entered the US charts in 1916; Samara entered the US charts in 1949. On the American record, Sabrina is the older name.
- How many people are named Sabrina and Samara?
- About 138,000 people named Sabrina are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 22,500 people named Samara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Sabrinas or Samaras in the classroom?
- Sabrina will almost certainly be the only one in school. Samara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. 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 Sabrina, Samara and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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