Sabre
Feminine · “a curved cavalry sword”
Sabre is given to both — 520 girls and 73 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
The sabre is a Hungarian word. The curved cavalry sword came west from the steppe with Hungarian and Polish horsemen, and the word came with it — szablya in Hungarian, from a verb meaning to cut — passing into German and then French before English got hold of it. As a name it is one of a small set of American weapon-names, and it is given mostly to daughters.
How old is the name Sabre?
Sabre first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Sabre alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 500 people named Sabre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sabre most popular?
Sabre peaked in 1994, reaching #3790 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 9,418 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From szablya to Sabre
The story of Sabre
English has taken a handful of weapon words as names — Lance, Dagger, Bowie and Sabre all appear in American records — and the reasoning is usually about sound and edge rather than about violence. Sabre appears in the record from 1960 and peaked in the 1990s, given mostly to daughters, which is the reverse of what a weapon name might be expected to do. There is also a real chance that some of these families were reaching for Sabrina rather than for a sword.
Meaning
a curved cavalry sword
From the Hungarian szablya, built on a verb meaning to cut, borrowed into German as Sabel and French as sabre. The weapon itself is a steppe design that reached Europe through Hungary and Poland, and the word traveled with the object — which is the usual way weapon names move.
How the name formed
- szablya
- Sabel
- sabre
- Sabre
Related forms: Szablya · Sabre · Säbel
Pronouncing Sabre
SAY-ber
Two syllables, stress on the first. The -re ending is the British spelling of a sound American English writes -er; the two are said identically, and the name looks slightly more formal for keeping it.
Nicknames for Sabre
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
- 1960
- Most girls named
- 199428 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3790reached in 1994
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Sabre in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Szablya in Hungarian — related form
- Sabre in French — same name
- Säbel in German — related form
Sabres among us
people named Sabre are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Sabre
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Annessa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sabre's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Annessa climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Annessa's path sketches the road Sabre is walking now.
Sabre 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
Sabre beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sabre in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a real word with a documented and rather exotic route into English.
- Five letters, two syllables, and readable on sight.
- It works for a child of either sex, and the record shows it doing so.
- It is genuinely uncommon while being entirely familiar as a word.
- It names a weapon, which is a signal some people will read strongly.
- Saber is the American spelling and will be written instead constantly.
- It sits close to Sabrina in sound and will be assumed to be short for it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Sabre
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sabres are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Sabre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sabre in 2025?
- Sabre ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sabre?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Sabre — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sabre with classmates?
- Sabre will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sabre
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sabre? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sabre 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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