Saphira
Feminine · “sapphire”
Saphira is sapphire, and the stone's name may be Sanskrit — sanipriya, dear to Saturn — though the ancients called lapis lazuli by it, not the blue corundum we mean.
How old is the name Saphira?
Saphira first appears in US birth records in 1996 — 29 years ago. The typical Saphira is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,300 people named Saphira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Saphira most popular?
Saphira peaked in 2017, reaching #1534 nationally. Today it ranks #1769, 235 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sanipriya to Saphira
The story of Saphira
Sapphira appears in Acts 5, struck dead with her husband Ananias for lying about a property sale — a difficult association the name has largely outrun. A 2002 fantasy novel gave the name to a dragon, which is where most modern American bearers come from. It appears in the registers from that period in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
sapphire, blue stone
From the Greek sappheiros, probably from the Hebrew sappir and possibly from the Sanskrit sanipriya, 'dear to Saturn'. Classical writers used the word for lapis lazuli rather than the modern sapphire. A separate Aramaic Sapphira means 'beautiful'. Both feed the name.
How the name formed
- sanipriya
- sappheiros
- Saphira
Related forms: Sapphira · Σαπφείρα · Sapphire
Pronouncing Saphira
suh-FEER-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Some bearers say suh-FY-ruh, and both are in use.
Nicknames for Saphira
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
- 1996
- Most girls named
- 2008145 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1534reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- −8.1%114 in 2025, from 124
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.
Saphira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sapphira in English — spelling variant
- Σαπφείρα in Greek — transliteration
- Sapphire in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, California.
Saphiras among us
people named Saphira are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 14,099 born in 2025 was named Saphira
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Saphira
- #1769
- Saphira on the 2025 chart
- #810
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Saphira went to 114 girls in 2025, but Safira and Saphyra are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 150, which makes it the 810th most-given girls’ name of the year — 959 places above the chart.
- Saphira114
- Safira30
- Saphyra6
About 1 girl in 10,715 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 14,099 for Saphira 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 Jama test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Saphira's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jama climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jama's path sketches the road Saphira is walking now.
Saphira 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 Saphira is headed
Saphira should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Saphira beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Saphira in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The stone's name history, from Sanskrit through Hebrew to Greek, is genuinely rich.
- The Aramaic 'beautiful' reading is a second and attractive route.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries well.
- The biblical Sapphira is struck dead for lying, which some families will weigh.
- The middle vowel splits between two readings.
- Sapphira with the double p is the biblical spelling.
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What they receive
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Saphira
Feminine · #1769 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Saphiras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Saphira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Saphira?
- Saphira is the most-used spelling in US records — 114 of the 150 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Safira and Saphyra.
- How popular is the name Saphira in 2025?
- Saphira ranks #1769 among US girl names in 2025, with 114 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Saphira?
- About 1 in every 14,099 US girls born in 2025 was named Saphira — 114 in all.
- Will my child share the name Saphira with classmates?
- Saphira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Saphira
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cimani#1769 · Minha#1769 · Gwyneth#1769 · Leonora#1769 · Vivianne#1769 · Adalie#1769 · Maryann#1769 · Arizbeth#1777
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Saphira? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Saphira and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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