Saraiah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "princess of the Lord".
Name Census estimates that about 275 living Americans carry the first name Saraiah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saraiah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saraiah births was 2011 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saraiah. 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
275
~ 1 in 1,246,379 Americans
Peak year
2011
18 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,318
Tracked since 1999
Popularity
Saraiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saraiah 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 132 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saraiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saraiah 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 Saraiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saraiahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Saraiah
The name Saraiah is of Hebrew origin, derived from the biblical name Sarah, meaning "princess" or "noble woman." It is believed to have first appeared in ancient Hebrew texts and scriptures, such as the Bible, around the 6th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Saraiah can be found in the Book of Jeremiah, where it is mentioned as the name of a Jewish priest living in the time of the Babylonian exile, around 586 BCE. This biblical figure, Saraiah, was the father of Ezra, a prominent scribe and leader during the return of the Jews to Jerusalem from Babylon.
In the Middle Ages, Saraiah was a relatively uncommon name, but it did appear occasionally in various European Jewish communities. One notable bearer of this name was Saraiah ben Meir Ha-Aven, a prominent 11th-century Jewish scholar and grammarian who lived in Spain.
The name Saraiah gained more prominence during the Renaissance and Reformation periods, particularly among Puritan and Protestant communities who looked to the Bible for inspiration when naming their children. One notable figure was Saraiah Griffith (c. 1580-1650), an English Puritan minister and author who wrote several religious works.
In the 19th century, Saraiah was a relatively uncommon name, but it was used by a few notable individuals. One example is Saraiah Harding (1807-1894), an American writer and abolitionist who published several works advocating for the abolition of slavery.
Another noteworthy bearer of the name Saraiah was Saraiah Gardiner (1843-1915), an American educator and suffragist who played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
While the name Saraiah has never been extremely popular, it has maintained a consistent presence throughout history, particularly within certain religious and cultural communities. Its biblical roots and associations with nobility and strength have contributed to its enduring appeal as a given name.
People
Saraiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saraiah 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
Saraiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saraiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 275 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saraiah 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 1,246,379 US residents.
Is Saraiah a common name?
We classify Saraiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 278 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saraiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Saraiah was 2011, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saraiah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Saraiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saraiah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saraiah 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 Saraiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saraiah 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 Saraiah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Saraiah?
You can see how many people share the name Saraiah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.