Sage
Feminine · “wise one”
Sage is given to both — 30,454 girls and 15,762 boys since 1880. See Sage as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Sage is an English word doing double duty: the wisdom word that came into Middle English from Old French, and the garden herb that medieval physicians planted for health. It is a single syllable ending in a soft -j, so it lands quickly and clearly and needs no explaining once heard. It has been on American records for decades — long enough to be a settled part of the landscape, and still climbing.
How old is the name Sage?
Sage first appears in US birth records in 1963 — 62 years ago. The typical Sage is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 30,000 people named Sage are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sage most popular?
Sage peaked in 2023, reaching #142 nationally. Today it ranks #160, 18 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Where it comes from
From Latin sapere to Sage
The story of Sage
Both senses of the word arrived in English from French in the medieval period, one describing a wise person, the other a plant kept in the physic garden; the Salernitan medical verses of the Middle Ages carried the line "why should a man die, who has sage growing in his garden?" From the wisdom sense came an English surname, applied to someone reputed for good judgment, and surnames are the usual road a word takes into first-name use. In the United States the word picked up a second landscape entirely — the silver-grey sagebrush of the western plains, and the soft green named after it. Sage joined the American name records in the second half of the twentieth century and has been given to both girls and boys ever since, with girls holding the larger share.
Meaningscholars disagree
"wise one" — and also the herb sage
Two different English words share this spelling, and the name draws on both. "Sage" meaning wise comes through Old French from Latin sapere, "to be wise, to have taste." The herb comes through Old French sauge from Latin salvia, a word tied to salvus, "healthy" — the plant was grown as medicine. Parents choose it for either sense, and neither reading is wrong.
How the name formed
- Latin sapere
- Old French sage
- Middle English sage
- Sagesurname
- Sage
Related forms: Sage · Salvia · Salvia
Pronouncing Sage
SAYJ
Exactly the English word: one syllable, soft g, rhyming with page. There is no competing pronunciation to correct.
Nicknames for Sage
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
- 1963
- Most girls named
- 20241,994 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #142reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −7.1%1,853 in 2025, from 1,994
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.
Sage in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sage in French — same name
- Salvia in Italian — related form
- Salvia in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Sages among us
people named Sage are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 867 born in 2025 was named Sage
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 Vicky test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sage's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vicky climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vicky's path sketches the road Sage is walking now.
Sage is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Sage is headed
Sage looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Sage beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sage in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled like a common English word, so it is written correctly from hearing and said correctly from reading — no repeating, no clarifying.
- One syllable, which sits easily in front of long or multi-syllable surnames.
- Works on records for a boy or a girl without alteration, and reads the same in every English-speaking country.
- Needs no nickname to function: the full name is already short enough for the playground and plain enough for a signature.
- It is rising, not resting. A Sage born now may share the name with more classmates by high school than in kindergarten — not crowded, but noticeably more familiar than it is today.
- Most Sages are girls, so a boy named Sage will occasionally be assumed female on paper, and a girl named Sage shares the spelling with boys. Neither is a problem, but both come up.
- The word carries other baggage: a kitchen herb, a paint color, a wellness aisle, and a steady supply of "sage advice" jokes from adults who think they are the first.
- There is no long form to fall back on and no short form to grow into — one syllable serves for every register, from a toddler's name tag to a job application.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sage to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Sage
Feminine · #160 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sages are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 30,000 people named Sage are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sage in 2025?
- Sage ranks #160 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,853 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sage?
- About 1 in every 867 US girls born in 2025 was named Sage — 1,853 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sage with classmates?
- Sage will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sage
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alani#161 · Valeria#162 · Wrenley#158 · Arya#158 · Phoebe#157 · Anastasia#163 · Oakley#156 · Ashley#164
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sage? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sage and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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