Saad
A name of Arabic origin meaning fortunate or felicitous.
Name Census estimates that about 2,377 living Americans carry the first name Saad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Saad today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saad births was 2012 (82 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saad. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Saad with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 144,196 Americans
Peak year
2012
82 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,251
Tracked since 1973
Census
Saad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,058 people with the first name Saad, which placed it at #3,879 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,879
National first-name rank
People counted
5.1K
5,058 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
47.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saad is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.9%. The next largest groups are White (42.2%) and Black (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Saad described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Saad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander47.9% · 2,423
- White42.2% · 2,135
- Black or African American5.0% · 252
- Two or more races3.8% · 192
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Popularity
Saad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saad from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 719 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saad remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saad by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Saad during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saads live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Saad, while Georgia, Maryland, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 94 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Saad
The name Saad has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "sa'ada" which means happiness, good fortune, or felicity. The name has been in use for centuries and can be traced back to the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian Peninsula.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Saad can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. Saad ibn Abi Waqqas was a prominent companion of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the early converts to Islam. He played a significant role in the battles and conquests of the early Islamic era and is regarded as one of the ten companions promised Paradise.
Another notable figure in Islamic history with the name Saad was Saad ibn Muadh, a chief of the Aws tribe in Medina during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. He was known for his wisdom, courage, and unwavering support for the Prophet and the fledgling Muslim community.
In the pre-Islamic era, Saad was also a common name among the Arab tribes. One of the most famous pre-Islamic Arabic poets, Saad ibn Malik, was known for his eloquence and mastery of the Arabic language. His poems and prose have been preserved and continue to be studied and appreciated by scholars and literary enthusiasts.
The name Saad has also been borne by notable figures throughout history, including Saad al-Din al-Shafi'i, the founder of the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence in the 8th century. Another prominent individual with this name was Saad al-Din al-Qunawi, a 13th-century Sufi mystic and philosopher who made significant contributions to the development of Islamic mysticism.
In more recent times, Saad Zaghloul was a prominent Egyptian revolutionary and statesman who played a crucial role in the Egyptian nationalist movement against British rule in the early 20th century. He was a leading figure in the 1919 Revolution and served as the first Prime Minister of Egypt after the country gained independence.
Overall, the name Saad has a rich and diverse history spanning centuries, with its origins rooted in the Arabic language and culture. It has been borne by influential figures across various fields, including religion, literature, philosophy, and politics, making it a name with a strong cultural and historical significance.
People
Saad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saad as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Saad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,377 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saad going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 144,196 US residents.
Is Saad a common name?
We classify Saad as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,417 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saad most popular?
The single biggest year for Saad was 2012, when 82 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saad is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,058 people with the name Saad, or 1.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,879 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Saad in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Saad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saad appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,062 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Saad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saad is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.9%. The next largest groups are White (42.2%) and Black (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Saad most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Saad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.9% (2,423 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Saad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saad in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Saad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saad in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Saad can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Saad?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Saad at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.