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Shifra

Feminine · “beautiful”

1930high 2025
#2564 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare68 girls in 2025

Shifra is one of the two midwives who defy Pharaoh — and the text names them, which it does not do for Pharaoh himself.

How old is the name Shifra?

Shifra first appears in US birth records in 1930 — 95 years ago. The typical Shifra alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,700 people named Shifra are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Shifra most popular?

Shifra peaked in 2025, reaching #2564 nationally. Today it ranks #2564, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.

Compare this nameMore “S” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Shifra

Exodus names Shifrah and Puah, two midwives who disobey Pharaoh and lie to his face about it, and the text records their names while leaving Pharaoh anonymous — a choice commentators have long noticed. The name means beautiful. Shifra is standard in Orthodox communities and is in current American use.

Meaning

beautiful, pleasing

From the Hebrew shifrah, 'beautiful' or 'pleasing', from shafar, 'to be fair'. Exodus 1 names Shifrah and Puah as the midwives who refuse Pharaoh's order to kill the Hebrew boys. The Hebrew is documented.

How the name formed

  1. shafar
  2. Shifrah
  3. Shifra

Related forms: שפרה · Shifrah · Shprintze

Pronouncing Shifra

SHIF-rah

Two syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew stresses the last, shif-RAH.

Nicknames for Shifra

Moderate

ShifiThe affectionate stretch, widely used in Orthodox families
ShifA clipping, used inside families rather than generally
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1930–2025683406819302025

US babies named Shifra per year from 1930 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#25641930s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1930
Most girls named
202568 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#2564reached in 2025
Change vs 2024
+47.8%68 in 2025, from 46
Shifra sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2025, with 68 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Shifra in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • שפרה in Hebrew — transliteration
  • Shifrah in English — spelling variant
  • Shprintze in Yiddish — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey.

Shifras among us

1,700

people named Shifra are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 23,636 born in 2025 was named Shifra

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Shifra

#2564
Shifra on the 2025 chart
#885
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Shifra went to 68 girls in 2025, but Shiphrah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 75, which makes it the 885th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,679 places above the chart.

  • Shifra68
  • Shiphrah7

About 1 girl in 21,430 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 23,636 for Shifra 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

III

Is it right for you

The Niketa test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shifra's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Niketa climbed just as high around 1986, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Niketa's path sketches the road Shifra is walking now.

40%chance Shifra will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Shifra, aligned on its peakNiketa· peak 1986not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+20 yrsNiketa · #15432Shifra today
Shifra today is about where Niketa stood in 1986 — in its own peak year. By 2001, Niketa had settled around #15432.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Shifra 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 Shifra is headed

19302030

US babies named Shifra per year, 1930 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Shifra should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.

Steady+4% by 2030projected around #2,603 in 2030

Low 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.

Shifra beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Shifra in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Shifrathis name68#2564Manuela68#2564Sabina68#2564Jacklyn68#2564Miliana68#2564

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That the midwives are named and Pharaoh is not is a first-rate observation.
  • The beautiful meaning is transparent and warm.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
What to consider
  • It reads as specifically Orthodox Jewish.
  • Hebrew and English stress it differently.
  • It will need spelling out every time.

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Shifra

Feminine · #2564 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Shifras are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Shifra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Shifra?
Shifra is the most-used spelling in US records — 68 of the 75 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Shiphrah.
How popular is the name Shifra in 2025?
Shifra ranks #2564 among US girl names in 2025, with 68 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Shifra?
About 1 in every 23,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Shifra — 68 in all.
Will my child share the name Shifra with classmates?
Shifra will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Shifra

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Manuela#2564 · Sabina#2564 · Jacklyn#2564 · Miliana#2564 · Xareni#2564 · Nyx#2564 · Porter#2564 · Davie#2564

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shifra? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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