Serah
Feminine · “Hebrew "abundance”
Serah looks like a decorated Sarah and is in fact a different biblical name entirely. Serah bat Asher appears by name in Genesis, Numbers and Chronicles — one of the few women counted in a genealogy — and later Jewish tradition made her extraordinary, the person who identified Moses and who was said never to have died. The spelling is not a variation on Sarah; it is a name Sarah's own text distinguishes from her.
How old is the name Serah?
Serah first appears in US birth records in 1963 — 62 years ago. The typical Serah alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 800 people named Serah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Serah most popular?
Serah peaked in 2018, reaching #3677 nationally. Today it ranks #6838, 3,161 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From שֶׂרַח (Serach) to Serah
The story of Serah
Serah bat Asher is named in the census lists of Genesis 46 and Numbers 26, which is remarkable in itself — the lists otherwise count men. That anomaly generated centuries of midrash: she is the one who tells Jacob that Joseph is alive, the one who shows Moses where Joseph's coffin lies, the one who enters paradise living. That literature kept the name in Jewish use long after most Genesis minor figures had vanished. The 2018 American peak sits inside a broader revival of overlooked biblical women's names, alongside Talia, Adina and Keziah.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew "abundance, overflow, surplus"
The name is written שֶׂרַח, from a root meaning to extend or hang over — hence "abundance" or "excess". Sarah is שָׂרָה, from a different root meaning "princess" or "noblewoman". The two are distinct in Hebrew and distinguished in the text. Some reference works nonetheless list Serah as a Sarah variant, and modern American bearers may well intend it that way, which is why the reading is contested in practice even though it is clear in scripture.
How the name formed
- שֶׂרַחSerach
- Serah
Related forms: שֶׂרַח · Serach · Σάρα
Pronouncing Serah
seh-RAH
Hebrew stresses the second syllable: seh-RAKH, with a guttural final consonant that English drops. American usage is usually SEH-rah or SAIR-uh, which collapses it into Sarah — the main reason the distinction gets lost.
Nicknames for Serah
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
- 1963
- Most girls named
- 201841 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3677reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- +6.7%16 in 2025, from 15
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.
Serah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- שֶׂרַח in Hebrew — same name
- Serach in Hebrew (transliteration) — transliteration
- Σάρα in Greek (Septuagint) — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Texas, Florida.
Serahs among us
people named Serah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 100,454 born in 2025 was named Serah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Serah
- #6838
- Serah on the 2025 chart
- #900
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Serah went to 16 girls in 2025, but Sera, Serra and Cera and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 60, which makes it the 900th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,938 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 26,788 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 100,454 for Serah 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 Cira test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Serah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cira climbed just as high around 1945, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cira's path sketches the road Serah is walking now.
Serah 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
Serah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Serah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a real and unusually rich textual history behind it, not a decorative one.
- It sounds entirely familiar while being genuinely uncommon.
- The connection to a woman remembered specifically for continuity and memory is well documented.
- Nearly everyone will hear and write it as Sarah, and the distinction will need constant defending.
- The Hebrew pronunciation and the American one are different names to the ear.
- Some reference works list it as a Sarah variant, which undercuts the point of choosing it.
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What they receive
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Serah
Feminine · #6838 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Serahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Serah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Serah?
- Serah is one of 5 recorded spellings. Sera is the more common one — 20 births in 2025 against 16 for Serah.
- How popular is the name Serah in 2025?
- Serah ranks #6838 among US girl names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Serah?
- About 1 in every 100,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Serah — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Serah with classmates?
- Serah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Serah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malana#6838 · Jeannie#6838 · Maxie#6838 · Nicol#6838 · Chaney#6838 · Keana#6838 · Concetta#6838 · Pheobe#6838
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Serah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Serah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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