Saarah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "princess" or "female ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Saarah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saarah today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saarah births was 2016 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saarah. 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 Saarah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
2016
17 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,227
Tracked since 1991
Census
Saarah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 272 people with the first name Saarah, which placed it at #31,478 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
#31,478
National first-name rank
People counted
272
272 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
47.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saarah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saarah is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.4%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Black (14.3%). 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 Saarah 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 Saarah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander47.4% · 129
- White20.6% · 56
- Black or African American14.3% · 39
- Two or more races9.2% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Saarah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saarah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 102 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saarah 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 Saarah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saarahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Saarah
The name Saarah has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, traced back to ancient times. It is a variant spelling of the name Sarah, derived from the Hebrew word "sarah," meaning "princess" or "noblewoman." The name Sarah has been prominent in Jewish tradition and history.
One of the earliest and most notable references to the name Sarah comes from the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Sarah was the wife of the patriarch Abraham and the mother of Isaac, making her an important figure in the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Her story is documented in the book of Genesis.
In the Middle Ages, the name Sarah gained popularity among Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. It was also adopted by some Christian and Muslim families, although with varying spellings and pronunciations.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Sarah was Sarah Breedlove (1867-1919), better known as Madam C.J. Walker. She was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist, renowned for developing and marketing hair care products specifically for Black women.
Another notable figure was Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), a French actress and sculptor who was one of the most famous performers of her time. She is often referred to as the "Divine Sarah" and is considered a major figure in the history of theater.
In the realm of literature, Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her works set in New England and her accurate depictions of regional life and characters.
Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879) was an American writer and editor who played a significant role in the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the United States. She was also an influential advocate for women's rights and education.
Sarah Caldwell (1924-2006) was an American opera conductor and impresario, renowned for her innovative productions and commitment to reviving lesser-known works. She founded the Opera Company of Boston and made significant contributions to the opera world.
People
Saarah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saarah 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
Saarah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saarah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saarah 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Saarah a common name?
We classify Saarah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 241 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saarah most popular?
The single biggest year for Saarah was 2016, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saarah is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saarah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 272 people with the name Saarah, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,478 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 Saarah 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 Saarah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saarah leans strongly female. 265 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 6 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Saarah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saarah is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.4%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Black (14.3%). 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 Saarah most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Saarah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.4% (129 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 Saarah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saarah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saarah in the SSA data are female. 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 Saarah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saarah 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 Saarah 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 many Americans are named Saarah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.