Sasha
A diminutive form of the feminine Russian name Alexandra, derived from the Greek meaning "defender of man".
Name Census estimates that about 38,476 living Americans carry the first name Sasha. It is a predominantly female name (95.7% of registrations). The average person named Sasha today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sasha births was 1988 (1,918 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sasha. 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 Sasha with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sasha is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,698 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
38K
~ 1 in 8,908 Americans
Peak year
1988
1,918 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#642
Tracked since 1956
Census
Sasha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 36,123 people with the first name Sasha, which placed it at #1,127 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
#1,127
National first-name rank
People counted
36K
36,123 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sasha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sasha is White at 43.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.7%) and Black (18.7%). 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 Sasha 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 Sasha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.3% · 15,648
- Hispanic or Latino24.7% · 8,938
- Black or African American18.7% · 6,742
- Two or more races7.7% · 2,781
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 1,600
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 414
Gender
Gender distribution for Sasha
Sasha leans heavily female at 95.7% of total registrations, but 1,698 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sasha as a male name
- Ranked #2,355 in 2024
- 60 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (60 births)
Sasha as a female name
- Ranked #642 in 2024
- 460 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1988 (1,886 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sasha leans strongly female. 34,132 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 1,995 male bearers (5.5%).
Popularity
Sasha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sasha from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 9,980 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sasha 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 Sasha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sashas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Sasha, while Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 711 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sasha
The name Sasha has its roots in the Russian language and dates back to the late 19th century. It is a diminutive form of the Russian name Aleksandr, which is derived from the Greek name Alexandros, meaning "defender of men." The name Sasha gained popularity in Russia and other Slavic countries as a shortened version of Aleksandr.
In ancient times, the name Alexandros was borne by several notable historical figures, including Alexander the Great, the famous Macedonian king and conqueror who lived from 356 BC to 323 BC. He is one of the most celebrated military leaders in history, and his name has been widely used across cultures and languages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sasha can be found in the works of renowned Russian writers, such as Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, who featured characters with this name in their literary works during the 19th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Sasha. One of the most famous was Sasha Cherny, a Russian-born artist and political cartoonist who lived from 1880 to 1932. His satirical artwork and biting commentary on social and political issues made him a prominent figure in the early 20th century.
Another notable figure was Sasha Kropotkin, a Russian princess and revolutionary who lived from 1856 to 1920. She was a leading advocate for anarchist and feminist ideals and played a significant role in the Russian revolutionary movement.
In the world of sports, Sasha Gritchin was a Soviet gymnast who competed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games, winning multiple medals for the Soviet Union.
Sasha Mitchell, born in 1967, is an American actress and filmmaker known for her roles in various television series and movies, including "Being Human" and "Dharma & Greg."
It is worth noting that while the name Sasha has traditionally been more common in Slavic cultures, it has gained popularity in other parts of the world as well, particularly as a unisex name in recent decades.
People
Sasha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sasha 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
Sasha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sasha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38,476 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sasha 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 8,908 US residents.
Is Sasha a common name?
We classify Sasha as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,769 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sasha most popular?
The single biggest year for Sasha was 1988, when 1,918 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sasha is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sasha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 36,123 people with the name Sasha, or 11.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,127 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 Sasha 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 Sasha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sasha leans strongly female. 34,132 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 1,995 male bearers (5.5%). 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 Sasha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sasha is White at 43.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.7%) and Black (18.7%). 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 Sasha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sasha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.3% (15,648 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 Sasha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sasha a female name?
Yes, 95.7% of people registered as Sasha 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 Sasha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sasha 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 Sasha 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 have the name Sasha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.