Sakari
A diminutive of the Finnish masculine name Sakarija meaning "powerful".
Name Census estimates that about 879 living Americans carry the first name Sakari. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Sakari today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sakari births was 2023 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sakari. 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.
People living today
879
~ 1 in 389,937 Americans
Peak year
2023
71 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,080
Tracked since 1993
Census
Sakari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 556 people with the first name Sakari, which placed it at #19,177 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
#19,177
National first-name rank
People counted
556
556 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sakari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sakari is Black at 57.7%. The next largest groups are White (14.9%) and Two or More Races (14.0%). 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 Sakari 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 Sakari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.7% · 321
- White14.9% · 83
- Two or more races14.0% · 78
- Hispanic or Latino10.1% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Sakari
Sakari is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 888 total registrations, 264 (29.7%) were male and 624 (70.3%) were female.
Sakari as a male name
- Ranked #3,080 in 2024
- 40 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (40 births)
Sakari as a female name
- Ranked #4,988 in 2024
- 27 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sakari on both sides of the split. Of the 553 people counted with this name, 158 were male (28.6%) and 395 were female (71.4%).
Popularity
Sakari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sakari from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 314 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sakari 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 Sakari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sakaris live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sakari
The name Sakari is of Finnish origin and has been in use since the 16th century. It is derived from the Greek name Sakarios, which means "blessed" or "prosperous". The name Sakarios was initially used as a surname in ancient Greece, and it gradually evolved into the first name Sakari over time.
In Finland, the name Sakari gained popularity during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, when Finnish families began to adopt Biblical names and names with Christian connotations. The name Sakari was seen as a suitable Finnish variant of the Greek name Sakarios, due to its positive and auspicious meaning.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sakari can be found in the Finnish translation of the New Testament, which was published in 1642. In this translation, the name Sakarios appears in some verses, further cementing its association with Christianity and the Bible in Finnish culture.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Sakari. One of the most famous was Sakari Topelius (1818-1898), a Finnish author, and journalist known for his children's stories and contributions to Finnish literature. Another notable Sakari was Sakari Pälsi (1882-1965), a Finnish explorer and ethnographer who led expeditions to Siberia and Central Asia.
In the realm of sports, Sakari Momoi (1903-1993) was a Finnish long-distance runner who won a silver medal in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen (1903-1967) was a Finnish gymnast who won a gold medal in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.
One of the most recent historical figures with the name Sakari was Sakari Tuomioja (1911-1964), a Finnish politician and diplomat who served as the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament and the Foreign Minister of Finland in the 1950s and 1960s.
While these are just a few examples, the name Sakari has been borne by many notable individuals throughout Finnish history, reflecting its enduring popularity and cultural significance in the country.
People
Sakari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sakari 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
Sakari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sakari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 879 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sakari 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 389,937 US residents.
Is Sakari a common name?
We classify Sakari as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 888 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sakari most popular?
The single biggest year for Sakari was 2023, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sakari is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sakari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 556 people with the name Sakari, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,177 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 Sakari 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 Sakari?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sakari on both sides of the split. Of the 553 people counted with this name, 158 were male (28.6%) and 395 were female (71.4%). 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 Sakari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sakari is Black at 57.7%. The next largest groups are White (14.9%) and Two or More Races (14.0%). 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 Sakari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sakari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.7% (321 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 Sakari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sakari a female name?
Yes, 70.3% of people registered as Sakari 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 Sakari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sakari 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 Sakari 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 Sakari?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Sakari at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.