Sapphira
Feminine · “sapphire”
Sapphira is the Greek word for the sapphire made into a name, and it belongs to a woman in the book of Acts whose story is one of the shortest and grimmest in the New Testament.
How old is the name Sapphira?
Sapphira first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Sapphira is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Sapphira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sapphira most popular?
Sapphira peaked in 2018, reaching #2744 nationally. Today it ranks #3517, 773 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sappheiros to Sapphira
The story of Sapphira
Sapphira appears in Acts as the wife of Ananias; the two sell property, hold back part of the price while claiming to give it all, and are struck dead when Peter confronts them. It is a hard passage. The name entered English use after the Reformation regardless, and appears in nineteenth-century American records. Its recent return belongs with the other gem names — Ruby, Pearl, Esmeralda — and with a fantasy novel that used it.
Meaning
sapphire
From Greek sappheiros, the blue stone, itself borrowed from a Semitic language and possibly ultimately from Sanskrit; the name means the gem rather than the color.
How the name formed
- sappheiros
- Sapphira
Related forms: Sappheira · Safira · Safira
Pronouncing Sapphira
suh-FY-rah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Some families say suh-FEER-ah.
Nicknames for Sapphira
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
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 201862 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2744reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- +26.5%43 in 2025, from 34
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.
Sapphira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sappheira in Greek — same name
- Safira in Spanish — same name
- Safira in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Sapphiras among us
people named Sapphira are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 37,378 born in 2025 was named Sapphira
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 Valisa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sapphira's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Valisa climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Valisa's path sketches the road Sapphira is walking now.
Sapphira 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 Sapphira is headed
Sapphira 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.
Sapphira beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sapphira in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning tied to a real and beautiful stone.
- Saffy is a warm short form that works from childhood on.
- It belongs to a recognized group of gem names with real history.
- The biblical bearer of the name lies and dies for it, which readers of Acts will know.
- The middle vowel is unsettled between FY and FEER.
- Sapphira, Saphira and Safira are all in use and none is dominant in English.
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What they receive
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Sapphira
Feminine · #3517 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sapphiras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Sapphira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sapphira in 2025?
- Sapphira ranks #3517 among US girl names in 2025, with 43 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sapphira?
- About 1 in every 37,378 US girls born in 2025 was named Sapphira — 43 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sapphira with classmates?
- Sapphira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sapphira
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maida#3517 · Amada#3517 · Afton#3517 · Allura#3517 · Jaina#3517 · Hallee#3517 · Katara#3517 · Joella#3517
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sapphira? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sapphira and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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