Saryah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "princess" or "noble lady".
Name Census estimates that about 597 living Americans carry the first name Saryah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saryah today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saryah births was 2011 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saryah. 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
597
~ 1 in 574,128 Americans
Peak year
2011
37 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,111
Tracked since 2000
Census
Saryah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 383 people with the first name Saryah, which placed it at #24,935 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
#24,935
National first-name rank
People counted
383
383 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saryah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saryah is Black at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.8%) and White (10.2%). 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 Saryah 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 Saryah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.5% · 247
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 53
- White10.2% · 39
- Two or more races7.0% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 5
Popularity
Saryah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saryah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 286 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saryah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saryah 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 Saryah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saryahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Saryah, while Ohio, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Saryah
The name Saryah is a relatively rare and unique name with origins that can be traced back to ancient Semitic languages. It is believed to have originated from the Hebrew name "Sarah," which means "princess" or "noblewoman." The name Sarah has its roots in the biblical figure Sarah, the wife of Abraham and a matriarch in the Hebrew Bible.
In its original form, the name was spelled as "Sarah" in Hebrew. Over time, it underwent various spelling variations as it spread to different regions and cultures. One of these variations is the spelling "Saryah," which is thought to have emerged in the Middle East and parts of North Africa.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Saryah can be traced back to ancient Arabic and Persian texts from the 7th to 10th centuries CE. During this period, the name was used by several notable figures, including Saryah bint Zayd al-Ansari, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad who lived in the 7th century CE.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Saryah was Saryah al-Shami, a renowned 9th-century Arab poet from Damascus. Her works were highly regarded and contributed to the rich literary tradition of the Abbasid era.
In the 11th century, a Persian scholar and philosopher named Saryah al-Razi made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and metaphysics. His writings influenced the development of scientific thought in the Islamic world.
During the 12th century, Saryah al-Sawi was a prominent Sufi mystic and poet from Egypt. Her spiritual teachings and poetry left a lasting impact on the Sufi tradition in the region.
In the 16th century, Saryah Khanum was a prominent figure in the Ottoman Empire. She was the daughter of Sultan Selim I and played an influential role in the court of her brother, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
While the name Saryah has roots in ancient Semitic languages and has been used throughout history in various regions, it remains a relatively uncommon name in modern times. Its unique and intriguing origins, however, continue to captivate those interested in the rich tapestry of cultural heritage and linguistic diversity.
People
Saryah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saryah 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
Saryah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saryah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 597 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saryah 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 574,128 US residents.
Is Saryah a common name?
We classify Saryah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saryah most popular?
The single biggest year for Saryah was 2011, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saryah is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saryah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 383 people with the name Saryah, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,935 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 Saryah 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 Saryah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saryah appears almost entirely female. Of the 386 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Saryah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saryah is Black at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.8%) and White (10.2%). 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 Saryah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Saryah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.5% (247 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 Saryah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saryah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saryah 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 Saryah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saryah 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 Saryah 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 Saryah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.