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Sanaa

Feminine · “radiance”

1977high 2006
#2099 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare89 girls in 2025

Sanaa is radiance in Arabic — and it is also the capital of Yemen, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth.

How old is the name Sanaa?

Sanaa first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Sanaa alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 6,100 people named Sanaa are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Sanaa most popular?

Sanaa peaked in 2006, reaching #605 nationally. Today it ranks #2099, 1,494 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.

Compare this nameMore “S” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Sanaa

Sana'a's old city has tower houses built of rammed earth and fired brick, some of them centuries old, and it is among the oldest continuously inhabited places anywhere. The given name comes from the ordinary Arabic word for radiance, not the city. Sanaa Lathan carries it in America, where it is in current use.

Meaning

radiance, splendor

From the Arabic sana', 'brilliance' or 'splendor', from a root meaning to shine or gleam. The Yemeni capital Sana'a is spelled with the same letters and is generally read as 'fortified place', a separate word. The given name's radiance reading is documented.

How the name formed

  1. sana'
  2. Sanaa

Related forms: سناء · Sana · Sanaa

Pronouncing Sanaa

sah-NAH

Two syllables, stress on the second. Arabic ends with a glottal stop English drops.

Nicknames for Sanaa

Moderate

SanaThe shorter spelling of the same sound, widely used
NaaThe back of the name, used inside families rather than generally
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1977–202548224104828919772025

US babies named Sanaa per year from 1977 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#6051970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1977
Most girls named
2006482 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#605reached in 2006
Change vs 2024
+15.6%89 in 2025, from 77
Sanaa sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2006, with 482 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Sanaa in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • سناء in Arabic — transliteration
  • Sana in English — spelling variant
  • Sanaa in Swahili — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Florida, Pennsylvania.

Sanaas among us

6,100

people named Sanaa are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 18,059 born in 2025 was named Sanaa

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Sanaa

#2099
Sanaa on the 2025 chart
#714
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sanaa went to 89 girls in 2025, but Sana and Sanna are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 248, which makes it the 714th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,385 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 6,481 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 18,059 for Sanaa 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

III

Is it right for you

The Dorinda test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sanaa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dorinda climbed just as high around 1944, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dorinda's path sketches the road Sanaa is walking now.

40%chance Sanaa will feel “very 2000s” by 2040
Sanaa, aligned on its peakDorinda· peak 1944not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+70 yrsDorinda · #14509Sanaa today
Sanaa today is about where Dorinda stood in 1963 — 19 years past a #605-sized peak. By 1978, Dorinda had settled around #1688.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Sanaa 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 Sanaa is headed

19772030

US babies named Sanaa per year, 1977 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Sanaa is easing off slowly — about 22% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.

Cooling-22% by 2030projected around #2,652 in 2030

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.

Sanaa beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Sanaa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Sanaathis name89#2099Athalia89#2099Prudence89#2099Elaya89#2099Lynnlee89#2099

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • The radiance meaning is transparent and undisputed.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
  • In Swahili the same spelling means art, which is a pleasant coincidence.
What to consider
  • The Yemeni capital shares the spelling and is a separate word.
  • Sana and Sanaa are both in circulation.
  • The final glottal stop of the Arabic is lost in English.

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Sanaa

Feminine · #2099 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Sanaas are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,100 people named Sanaa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Sanaa?
Sanaa is one of 3 recorded spellings. Sana is the more common one — 151 births in 2025 against 89 for Sanaa.
How popular is the name Sanaa in 2025?
Sanaa ranks #2099 among US girl names in 2025, with 89 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Sanaa?
About 1 in every 18,059 US girls born in 2025 was named Sanaa — 89 in all.
Will my child share the name Sanaa with classmates?
Sanaa will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Sanaa

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Athalia#2099 · Prudence#2099 · Elaya#2099 · Lynnlee#2099 · Eiza#2099 · Minerva#2099 · Rosario#2099 · Ivette#2099

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sanaa? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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