Sahira
Feminine · “Arabic sahira”
Two languages made a name out of staying awake and neither knew about the other. Greek gregorein gave Gregory, the watchful, for monks keeping vigil through the night. Arabic sahira means wakeful, from a root about the sleepless hours, and Arabic poetry treats those hours as the time of longing and of composition.
How old is the name Sahira?
Sahira first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Sahira alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 600 people named Sahira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sahira most popular?
Sahira peaked in 2023, reaching #4454 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 3,908 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sahira to Sahira
The story of Sahira
The sleepless night is one of the settled conventions of classical Arabic poetry. The lover cannot sleep, watches the stars move, and speaks to the night itself; the hour before dawn, sahar, is named and returned to constantly. It is also a religious hour: the pre-dawn meal in Ramadan is suhur, from the same root, and the night prayer of the last third of the night is a recognized devotion. So a name from this root carries both the poetic and the devotional sense of being awake when others are not. The Greek parallel is genuinely independent: gregorein came into Christian use from the injunction to watch and gave Gregory to sixteen popes. Two traditions, two languages, no contact between the etymologies, and the same idea used to name people in both.
Meaningscholars disagree
Arabic sahira, wakeful or sleepless
From the Arabic root s-h-r, associated with staying awake at night, giving sahar, the last part of the night before dawn, and sahira, one who is wakeful. The name is also read as connected to a root for enchantment, sihr, which is a separate set of consonants in Arabic but is often confused in transliteration. It peaks in the American data in 2023, which makes it one of the newest names in this range.
How the name formed
- sahira
- Sahira
Related forms: Sahira · Sahira
Pronouncing Sahira
sah-HEE-rah
Three syllables, stress on the second. The h is fully pronounced and comes from the throat in Arabic. English speakers often say suh-HEER-uh, which is close enough to be understood.
Nicknames for Sahira
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
- 1985
- Most girls named
- 202331 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4454reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −36.8%12 in 2025, from 19
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.
Sahira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sahira in Arabic — transliteration
- Sahira in Urdu — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Sahiras among us
people named Sahira are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Sahira
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 Miana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sahira's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Miana climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Miana's path sketches the road Sahira is walking now.
Sahira 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
Sahira beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sahira in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and carries a rich literary tradition.
- Hira gives a short form that is a name in its own right.
- The sound is easy for English speakers.
- It is easily confused with Sahara and with Zahira.
- The Arabic h is not the English one.
- The name is very recent in American records.
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What they receive
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Sahira
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sahiras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Sahira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sahira in 2025?
- Sahira ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sahira?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Sahira — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sahira with classmates?
- Sahira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sahira
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sahira? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sahira and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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