Saraya
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "traveler" or "journey".
Name Census estimates that about 1,615 living Americans carry the first name Saraya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saraya today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saraya births was 2024 (95 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saraya. 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 Saraya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Saraya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 212,232 Americans
Peak year
2024
95 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,048
Tracked since 1974
Census
Saraya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,107 people with the first name Saraya, which placed it at #11,532 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
#11,532
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,107 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
32.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saraya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saraya is Black at 32.7%. The next largest groups are White (28.9%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Saraya 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 Saraya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American32.7% · 362
- White28.9% · 320
- Hispanic or Latino17.6% · 195
- Two or more races14.3% · 158
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.3% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 35
Popularity
Saraya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saraya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 536 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saraya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saraya 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 Saraya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sarayas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Saraya, while South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Saraya
The name Saraya is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language, deriving from the word "Sara," which means "traveler" or "journey." This name has been in use for centuries across various regions of the Middle East and North Africa.
In ancient times, the name Saraya was often associated with nomadic tribes and those who led a wandering lifestyle. It was seen as a symbolic representation of the journey through life and the experiences one encounters along the way.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Saraya can be found in the ancient Arabic poetry of the 6th century CE. Poets and storytellers would often use the name to personify the spirit of adventure and exploration.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Saraya. In the 9th century CE, Saraya al-Qadiri was a renowned scholar and poet from Baghdad, known for her contribution to the field of Arabic literature.
During the 12th century, Saraya bint al-Hafiz was a prominent figure in the court of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt. She was celebrated for her intellect and patronage of the arts.
In the 16th century, Saraya al-Nabulsi was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Nablus, Palestine. Her works on Islamic jurisprudence and theology were widely studied and respected.
Moving forward in time, Saraya Gomis was a 19th-century Senegalese writer and activist who fought for the rights of women and advocated for education and social reform.
Another notable figure was Saraya Bendavid, a 20th-century Moroccan artist and sculptor whose works reflected the vibrant cultural heritage of her country.
The name Saraya has endured through the ages, carrying with it a rich history and a sense of wanderlust. Its origins in the Arabic language and its association with nomadic tribes have given it a unique and evocative meaning that continues to resonate with people from various cultures and backgrounds.
People
Saraya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saraya 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
Saraya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saraya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,615 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saraya 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 212,232 US residents.
Is Saraya a common name?
We classify Saraya as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,640 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saraya most popular?
The single biggest year for Saraya was 2024, when 95 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saraya is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saraya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,107 people with the name Saraya, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,532 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 Saraya 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 Saraya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saraya appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,111 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Saraya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saraya is Black at 32.7%. The next largest groups are White (28.9%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Saraya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Saraya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 32.7% (362 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 Saraya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saraya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saraya 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 Saraya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saraya 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 Saraya 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 Saraya?
See how many people share the name Saraya on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.