Sania
Feminine · “Brilliant”
Sania is Arabic for brilliant or exalted, and it has a modern bearer who put it in front of a very large audience: Sania Mirza became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title and was on television across South Asia from 2003.
How old is the name Sania?
Sania first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Sania alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,900 people named Sania are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sania most popular?
Sania peaked in 2006, reaching #1390 nationally. Today it ranks #5554, 4,164 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From saniyya to Sania
The story of Sania
The name is used across the Arab world, Iran and South Asia, and is particularly common in Pakistan and among Indian Muslims. Sania Mirza, born in Mumbai in 1986, became the highest-ranked Indian woman in tennis history, won six Grand Slam doubles titles, and was one of the most visible sportswomen in South Asia through the 2000s and 2010s. American records show the name rising from the 1990s with South Asian and Arab immigration, with a peak in 2006 that sits early in her career; the name is used in African American families as well.
Meaningscholars disagree
Brilliant, splendid, exalted
Arabic saniyya means splendid, brilliant or elevated, from a root meaning to be high or resplendent — that reading is settled for Saniyya. A separate Arabic thāniya, meaning second, is sometimes given for the same English spelling and is a different word. Urdu and South Asian use draws on the first. The English spelling Sania serves both and does not distinguish.
How the name formed
- saniyya
- Sania
Related forms: سنية · ثانیہ · Saniye · Saniyeh
Pronouncing Sania
SAH-nee-ah
Three syllables, stress on the first. Some families say suh-NEE-uh with the weight in the middle, and both are used in America.
Nicknames for Sania
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 2006163 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1390reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- +4.8%22 in 2025, from 21
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.
Sania in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سنية in Arabic — transliteration
- ثانیہ in Urdu — same name
- Saniye in Turkish — spelling variant
- Saniyeh in Persian — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Sanias among us
people named Sania are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was named Sania
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sania
- #5554
- Sania on the 2025 chart
- #670
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sania went to 22 girls in 2025, but Saniyah, Saniya and Sanya and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 301, which makes it the 670th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,884 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 5,340 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 73,058 for Sania 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 Tomi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sania's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tomi climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tomi's path sketches the road Sania is walking now.
Sania 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
Sania beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sania 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 flattering.
- Five letters and three open syllables are easy to say.
- It is recognized across the Arab world and South Asia.
- Two different Arabic words share this English spelling.
- Sania, Saniya, Sanaa and Sanya are close enough to be confused.
- The stress placement is not agreed in American use.
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What they receive
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Sania
Feminine · #5554 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sanias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Sania are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sania?
- Sania is one of 5 recorded spellings. Saniyah is the more common one — 175 births in 2025 against 22 for Sania.
- How popular is the name Sania in 2025?
- Sania ranks #5554 among US girl names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sania?
- About 1 in every 73,058 US girls born in 2025 was named Sania — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sania with classmates?
- Sania will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sania
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eda#5554 · Phebe#5554 · Felicia#5554 · Audie#5554 · Maryellen#5554 · Warren#5554 · Ruthann#5554 · Nettie#5554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sania? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sania and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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