Sacha
A masculine name of Russian origin meaning "defender of mankind".
Name Census estimates that about 2,402 living Americans carry the first name Sacha. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Sacha today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sacha births was 1977 (126 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sacha. 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 Sacha with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Sacha was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 142,695 Americans
Peak year
1977
126 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,389
Tracked since 1968
Census
Sacha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,699 people with the first name Sacha, which placed it at #6,060 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
#6,060
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,699 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sacha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sacha is White at 51.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.4%) and Black (16.6%). 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 Sacha 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 Sacha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.5% · 1,390
- Hispanic or Latino20.4% · 550
- Black or African American16.6% · 448
- Two or more races7.2% · 194
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 98
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Sacha
Sacha is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,532 total registrations, 621 (24.5%) were male and 1,911 (75.5%) were female.
Sacha as a male name
- Ranked #5,389 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (43 births)
Sacha as a female name
- Ranked #17,170 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (103 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sacha on both sides of the split. Of the 2,703 people counted with this name, 644 were male (23.8%) and 2,059 were female (76.2%).
Popularity
Sacha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sacha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 745 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sacha 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 Sacha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sachas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Sacha, while Washington, New Jersey, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sacha
The name Sacha is a diminutive form of the Russian name Alexandr, which is derived from the Greek name Alexandros, meaning "defender of men." It is believed to have originated in the early medieval period, around the 5th or 6th century AD, in the Eastern European region.
The name Alexandros was borne by several notable historical figures, including Alexander the Great, the famous Macedonian king and military commander who lived from 356 to 323 BC. His conquests and legacy played a significant role in the spread of Hellenistic culture throughout the ancient world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sacha can be found in the writings of the Russian author Alexander Pushkin, who lived from 1799 to 1837. In his novel "Eugene Onegin," he introduced a character named Sacha, which helped popularize the name in Russia.
Over the centuries, several prominent individuals have borne the name Sacha. One notable example is Sacha Guitry, a French playwright, actor, and filmmaker who lived from 1885 to 1957. He was known for his witty and satirical works that often explored themes of love and relationships.
Another famous Sacha was Sacha Baron Cohen, the British comedian and actor born in 1971. He is best known for his satirical portrayals of eccentric characters, such as Borat and Ali G, which have both entertained and sparked discussions about social and political issues.
In the world of sports, Sacha Distel was a French singer and guitarist who achieved international success in the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in 1933 and passed away in 2004.
Sacha Lichine, born in 1946, is a French wine entrepreneur and author who has played a significant role in promoting and marketing French wines globally.
While the name Sacha is primarily associated with the Russian and Eastern European regions, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in Western Europe and North America, due to cultural exchanges and migration patterns.
People
Sacha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sacha 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
Sacha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sacha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,402 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sacha 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 142,695 US residents.
Is Sacha a common name?
We classify Sacha 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, 2,532 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sacha most popular?
The single biggest year for Sacha was 1977, when 126 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sacha is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sacha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,699 people with the name Sacha, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,060 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 Sacha 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 Sacha?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sacha on both sides of the split. Of the 2,703 people counted with this name, 644 were male (23.8%) and 2,059 were female (76.2%). 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 Sacha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sacha is White at 51.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.4%) and Black (16.6%). 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 Sacha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sacha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.5% (1,390 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 Sacha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sacha a female name?
Yes, 75.5% of people registered as Sacha 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 Sacha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sacha 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 Sacha 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 people are called Sacha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.