Sativa
Feminine · “sown”
Sativa is a Latin adjective that botanists use to mark a plant as farmed rather than wild, and it appears in the scientific names of a long list of ordinary crops. One of those plants is far better known than the rest, which is the practical fact about this name.
How old is the name Sativa?
Sativa first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Sativa alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 700 people named Sativa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sativa most popular?
Sativa peaked in 1996, reaching #3149 nationally. See the whole 1996 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Sativa
Linnaeus and the botanists who followed him needed a way of marking that a plant was the farmed version of something, and the Latin word for sown did the job. Rice carries it. So do oats, lettuce, carrots in an older classification, chickpeas, alfalfa, watercress, coriander, chestnut and flax in various forms, and about a hundred others. The word says nothing about the plant except that people grow it on purpose. It appears in one further binomial that is far more famous than the rest, and because scientific names travel into ordinary speech unevenly, that one use has taken the word over in most people's heads — so a Latin adjective meaning farmed now reads as the name of a specific plant to almost everybody who meets it, including in a name.
Meaning
sown; cultivated
The feminine form of a Latin adjective built on the verb to sow. In binomial naming it distinguishes a domesticated plant from its wild relatives, which is why it turns up across completely unrelated families — grains, vegetables, herbs and fiber crops all use it.
Pronouncing Sativa
suh-TEE-vuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Botanical Latin as spoken in English puts it there; classical Latin would have put it on the first.
Nicknames for Sativa
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 200241 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3149reached in 1996
- Change vs 2023
- +30.0%13 in 2024, from 10
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.
Sativas among us
people named Sativa 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
Sativa 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
- Middle stress on three syllables is the easiest rhythm English offers.
- The meaning is documented, precise and easy to state.
- It is genuinely distinctive without being hard to say or spell.
- One plant has effectively taken the word over, and the association arrives before anything else.
- That association is now attached to a legal and commercial industry in much of the country.
- The word is an adjective rather than a noun, which some people will point out.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sativa to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Sativa? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Sativa
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Sativas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Sativa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sativa in 2025?
- Sativa is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Sativa with classmates?
- Sativa 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 Sativa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sativa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle