Sabina
A feminine name derived from the Roman name Sabinus, meaning "a Sabine woman".
Name Census estimates that about 5,551 living Americans carry the first name Sabina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sabina today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sabina births was 2005 (140 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sabina. 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 Sabina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 61,746 Americans
Peak year
2005
140 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,518
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sabina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,923 people with the first name Sabina, which placed it at #2,207 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
#2,207
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,923 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sabina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sabina is White at 42.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.9%). 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 Sabina 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 Sabina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.2% · 5,033
- Hispanic or Latino30.3% · 3,617
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.9% · 2,140
- Black or African American6.0% · 718
- Two or more races3.3% · 391
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 24
Popularity
Sabina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sabina from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,289 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Sabina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sabina 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 Sabina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sabinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Sabina, while Wisconsin, Oregon, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 196 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sabina
The name Sabina has its origins in the Latin language and ancient Roman culture. It is derived from the root word "Sabinus", which referred to an ancient Italic tribe that lived in central Italy. The name carries associations with the Sabine region and the city of Sabina, located near modern-day Rieti.
In ancient Roman mythology, the Sabine women played a significant role in the legendary "Rape of the Sabine Women" incident, which helped establish the Roman population through intermarriage between the Romans and the Sabines. This historical event likely contributed to the popularity of the name Sabina among the Romans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sabina dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was borne by Sabina, the wife of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was known for her beauty, intelligence, and influence during her husband's reign.
Throughout history, several notable women have carried the name Sabina. In the 4th century AD, Sabina was the name of a Roman martyr and saint who was persecuted for her Christian faith during the rule of Emperor Vespasian. Her feast day is celebrated on August 29th in the Catholic Church.
In the 16th century, Sabina von Bayern was a German princess and duchess, born in 1492. She played a significant role in the promotion of the Protestant Reformation in her territories.
During the Renaissance period, Sabina Poppaea was an influential Roman empress and the second wife of Emperor Nero. She was known for her beauty and was a patron of the arts.
In the 19th century, Sabina Altariba y Vallès was a Spanish composer and pianist, born in 1828. She was one of the first female composers to achieve recognition in Spain during her lifetime.
Another famous bearer of the name was Sabina Spielrein, a Russian psychoanalyst and physician, born in 1885. She made significant contributions to the field of psychoanalysis and had a profound influence on the work of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud.
People
Sabina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sabina 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
Sabina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sabina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,551 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sabina 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 61,746 US residents.
Is Sabina a common name?
We classify Sabina as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,014 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sabina most popular?
The single biggest year for Sabina was 2005, when 140 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sabina is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sabina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,923 people with the name Sabina, or 3.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,207 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 Sabina 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 Sabina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sabina appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,932 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Sabina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sabina is White at 42.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.9%). 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 Sabina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sabina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.2% (5,033 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 Sabina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sabina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sabina 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 Sabina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sabina 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 Sabina 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 Sabina?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.