Saray
Feminine · “princess”
Saray is the Spanish form of Sarai, the name Abraham's wife carried before God changed it to Sarah. Both mean princess, and the change is one of the small mysteries of Genesis.
How old is the name Saray?
Saray first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Saray alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 2,300 people named Saray are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Saray most popular?
Saray peaked in 2007, reaching #1770 nationally. Today it ranks #3517, 1,747 places below that high. See the whole 2007 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Sarai to Saray
The story of Saray
Genesis renames both Abram and Sarai at the covenant — Abraham and Sarah — and gives a reason for his change but not for hers. The older form survived in the text and entered Spanish naming as Saray, which is used across Latin America and Spain. It reaches American records with Hispanic families, and English speakers generally read it as an unfamiliar name rather than as the one they know.
Meaning
princess
From Hebrew Sarai, generally read as princess or noblewoman; Genesis records the change to Sarah at the covenant, and commentators have argued for millennia about what the difference between the two forms was meant to signify.
How the name formed
- Sarai
- Saray
Related forms: Sarai · Sarai · Sarai
Pronouncing Saray
sah-RY
Two syllables with the stress on the second in Spanish. English speakers often say SAIR-ay.
Nicknames for Saray
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 2007121 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1770reached in 2007
- Change vs 2024
- +7.5%43 in 2025, from 40
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.
Saray in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sarai in Hebrew — same name
- Sarai in English — spelling variant
- Sarai in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Sarays among us
people named Saray are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 37,378 born in 2025 was named Saray
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Saray
- #3517
- Saray on the 2025 chart
- #384
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Saray went to 43 girls in 2025, but Sarai is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 776, which makes it the 384th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,133 places above the chart.
- Sarai733
- Saray43
About 1 girl in 2,071 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 37,378 for Saray 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 Lyndi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Saray's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lyndi climbed just as high around 1979, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lyndi's path sketches the road Saray is walking now.
Saray 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 Saray is headed
Saray 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.
Saray beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Saray 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 and one of the oldest documented women's names anywhere.
- Sara stands beside it as an immediately familiar cousin.
- Every letter is sounded, so Spanish speakers read it correctly at first sight.
- The stress falls at the end in Spanish and often at the front in English.
- Sarai and Saray are the same name and the first is the English spelling.
- The biblical name was changed by God, which some families will find worth a thought.
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What they receive
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Saray
Feminine · #3517 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sarays 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 Saray are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Saray?
- Saray is one of 2 recorded spellings. Sarai is the more common one — 733 births in 2025 against 43 for Saray.
- How popular is the name Saray in 2025?
- Saray ranks #3517 among US girl names in 2025, with 43 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Saray?
- About 1 in every 37,378 US girls born in 2025 was named Saray — 43 in all.
- Will my child share the name Saray with classmates?
- Saray will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Saray
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 Saray? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Saray and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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