Sara
Feminine · “Princess”
Sara is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 436,193 girls against 1,248 boys since 1880. See Sara as a boy name
Sara without the h is the older spelling in most of Europe. Greek and Latin wrote the name that way and passed it to every western language; the h at the end is a mark from Hebrew transliteration that English adopted and then treated as standard. Both forms are correct and one of them has a longer European history.
How old is the name Sara?
Sara was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Sara alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 357,000 people named Sara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sara most popular?
Sara peaked in 1981, reaching #26 nationally. Today it ranks #198, 172 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Where it comes from
From Sarai to Sara
The story of Sara
She is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded. A hundred and twenty-seven years, the text says, and then a whole chapter about her husband buying a field with a cave in it to bury her, negotiating in public with the local landowners and insisting on paying full price so that nobody could later say the ground was a gift. It is the most detailed property transaction in the book, and it exists because of a burial. The Greek and Latin translators wrote her name without the final letter, because neither language had a use for it at the end of a word, and every western European language inherited that. English restored the h from Hebrew during the Reformation, when translators went back to the original texts, and both spellings have been in use ever since.
Meaning
Princess, noblewoman
The Hebrew is the feminine of a word for a ruler or chief, and the text itself makes a point of the change from an earlier form of the name at the moment God promises her a son. The reading is not in dispute, which is unusual for a name this old, and neither spelling alters it.
Cultural footprint
Sara Bareilles (b. 1979) — "Brave" singer and composer of Broadway's Waitress
Sara Teasdale (b. 1884) — Pulitzer-winning poet
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Sarai
- Sarah
- Sara
Related forms: Sara · Sara · Sara · Sara · Sarah
Pronouncing Sara
SAIR-uh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Most of Europe says SAH-rah with a fuller first vowel, and that pronunciation is common in the United States too; both are current and the spelling supports either.
Nicknames for Sara
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 198111,359 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #26reached in 1981
- Change vs 2022
- −6.7%1,568 in 2025, from 1,680
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.
Sara in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sara in Italian — same name
- Sara in Spanish — same name
- Sara in German — same name
- Sara in Polish — same name
- Sarah in Arabic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas. International figures from Office for National Statistics. Sources
Saras among us
people named Sara are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,025 born in 2025 was named Sara
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sara
- #198
- Sara on the 2025 chart
- #56
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sara went to 1,568 girls in 2025, but Sarah is the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 4,312, which makes it the 56th most-given girls’ name of the year — 142 places above the chart.
- Sarah2,710
- Sara1,568
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 373 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,025 for Sara 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 Robin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sara's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Robin climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Robin's path sketches the road Sara is walking now.
Sara peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Sara is headed
Sara should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Sara beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sara in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled identically in Italian, Spanish, German, Polish and Arabic, and understood everywhere.
- Four letters, no silent ones, and nothing that can be misread once the vowel is settled.
- The name has been in continuous use for as long as there are records of names at all.
- Two live pronunciations in America, and families with a European connection may want the other one.
- The h spelling is commoner in English-speaking countries and will be added by strangers.
- The record carries this spelling for boys in small numbers, so it is not an absolute signal.
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What they receive
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Sara
Feminine · #198 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Saras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 357,000 people named Sara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sara?
- Sara is one of 2 recorded spellings. Sarah is the more common one — 2,710 births in 2025 against 1,568 for Sara.
- How popular is the name Sara in 2025?
- Sara ranks #198 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,568 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sara?
- About 1 in every 1,025 US girls born in 2025 was named Sara — 1,568 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sara with classmates?
- Sara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sara
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Olive#197 · Peyton#199 · Molly#196 · Lia#200 · Mabel#201 · Alora#195 · Everleigh#194 · Noelle#202
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sara? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sara and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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