Saba
Feminine · “the kingdom of Sheba”
Saba is given to both — 1,587 girls and 94 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Saba is a kingdom. The Arabic and Ethiopic name for Sheba, the land whose queen traveled to Solomon with spices and hard questions, is Saba, and the word names a real place in ancient Yemen with dams and inscriptions to prove it. In Arabic it is also the east wind, and the two senses run alongside each other.
How old is the name Saba?
Saba first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Saba alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 1,600 people named Saba are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Saba most popular?
Saba peaked in 1986, reaching #2384 nationally. Today it ranks #4878, 2,494 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Saba
Sheba was not a legend: the Sabaean kingdom in what is now Yemen left inscriptions, temples and the great dam at Marib, and its trade in incense made it rich enough for the story about its queen to be plausible. Ethiopian tradition claims her as the mother of a dynasty. Meanwhile Arabic poetry made the east wind, saba, the wind that carries news from a beloved, and Persian and Urdu took that sense. The name reaches American records from both directions, with Ethiopian and Eritrean families and with Arab, Persian and South Asian ones.
Meaningscholars disagree
the kingdom of Sheba; or the east wind
Two documented readings. Saba is the Arabic and Ge'ez name of the kingdom the Bible calls Sheba, a real South Arabian state. Separately, Arabic saba names the east wind, a word with a long life in poetry. Persian and Urdu use the second sense; Ethiopian and Eritrean families generally mean the first.
Pronouncing Saba
SAH-bah
Two syllables, stress in front, both vowels open. English speakers say it correctly without being told.
Nicknames for Saba
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 200151 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2384reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- −6.9%27 in 2025, from 29
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Saba in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سبأ in Arabic — transliteration
- ሳባ in Amharic — transliteration
- Sheba in English — same name
- Saba in Persian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Virginia.
Sabas among us
people named Saba are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was named Saba
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Saba
- #4878
- Saba on the 2025 chart
- #926
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Saba went to 27 girls in 2025, but Sabah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 34, which makes it the 926th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,952 places above the chart.
- Saba27
- Sabah7
About 1 girl in 47,273 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 59,528 for Saba itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Natalina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Saba's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Natalina climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Natalina's path sketches the road Saba is walking now.
Saba 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Saba is headed
Saba should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Saba beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Saba in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two open syllables: easy in almost any language on earth.
- It carries a documented ancient kingdom and a famous story with it.
- It is used by Ethiopian, Eritrean, Arab, Persian and South Asian families alike.
- Its two meanings belong to different traditions, so the name will be explained differently by different relatives.
- Saba, Sabah and Sabaa all appear in transliteration, so records may differ.
- A short name offers nothing to shorten and no formal register to move up to.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Saba
Feminine · #4878 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sabas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Saba are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Saba?
- Saba is the most-used spelling in US records — 27 of the 34 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Sabah.
- How popular is the name Saba in 2025?
- Saba ranks #4878 among US girl names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Saba?
- About 1 in every 59,528 US girls born in 2025 was named Saba — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Saba with classmates?
- Saba will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Saba
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maribelle#4878 · Evangelia#4878 · Pari#4878 · Zoraya#4878 · Chyna#4878 · Odyssey#4878 · Kamry#4878 · Zana#4878
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Saba? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Saba and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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