Sarajane
Feminine · “princess”
Sarajane is two of the oldest women's names in English written without the space between them, and the only thing marking the join is a capital-less j in the middle. The second half has a career as an English common noun that almost nobody remembers.
How old is the name Sarajane?
Sarajane first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Sarajane alive today was born around 1964, making them about 61 years old. About 500 people named Sarajane are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sarajane most popular?
Sarajane peaked in 1944, reaching #2027 nationally. See the whole 1944 chart.
Where it comes from
From Sarah to Sarajane
The story of Sarajane
For a couple of centuries an English writer could use the second half of this name as a unit of money. Genoa minted a small silver coin, and English speakers called it a jane — apparently from the city's name in its older English form, which was closer to Jean than to Genoa. It was worth very little, which is how it ended up in the language: writers used it the way later writers used a farthing, in phrases about things not worth one. Chaucer uses it, Spenser uses it, and then the coin stopped circulating and the word went with it. It is a small reminder that ordinary words attach themselves to place names constantly and then come loose again, and that a name can be an ordinary noun in one century and nothing but a name in the next.
Meaning
princess, joined to Jane
The first half is Hebrew and means a princess or noblewoman. The second is the English feminine of John, arrived at through French, and carries that name's Hebrew sense of divine favor. The compound is American and means nothing beyond the sum of its halves.
How the name formed
- Sarah
- Sarajane
Pronouncing Sarajane
SAIR-uh-jayn
Three syllables. Both halves keep a beat of their own, which is the audible sign of a double name written solid, and the heavier stress sits at the front.
Nicknames for Sarajane
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
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 194318 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2027reached in 1944
- Change vs 2012
- +60.0%8 in 2016, from 5
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.
Sarajanes among us
people named Sarajane are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Sarajane sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Both halves are common, so nothing has to be spelled out by sound.
- It shortens to either half, and each is a complete name.
- Written solid it occupies one field on a form instead of two.
- Sara Jane and Sarah-Jane are both recorded, and systems will split or hyphenate it without asking.
- The single s of the first half will be corrected to Sarah by people writing it down.
- It reads as belonging to a particular mid-century generation.
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Sarajane
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Sarajanes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Sarajane are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sarajane in 2025?
- Sarajane is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Sarajane with classmates?
- Sarajane will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sarajane? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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