Saudia
A feminine Arabic name meaning "from Saudi Arabia".
Name Census estimates that about 392 living Americans carry the first name Saudia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saudia today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saudia births was 1991 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saudia. 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
392
~ 1 in 874,373 Americans
Peak year
1991
16 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2017 SSA rank
#18,017
Tracked since 1961
Census
Saudia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 456 people with the first name Saudia, which placed it at #22,008 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
#22,008
National first-name rank
People counted
456
456 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saudia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saudia is Black at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (14.5%) and White (7.2%). 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 Saudia 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 Saudia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.9% · 296
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.5% · 66
- White7.2% · 33
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 29
- Two or more races5.9% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 5
Popularity
Saudia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saudia from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 98 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Saudia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saudia 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 Saudia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saudias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Saudia
The name Saudia is believed to have originated from the Arabic word 'سعودي' (Sa'udi), which means 'Saudi Arabian'. It is a modern name that gained popularity in the 20th century, particularly after the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
The name is closely associated with the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud, which has ruled over the Arabian Peninsula since the 18th century. It is likely that the name Saudia was derived from the family name 'Al Saud' to reflect the national identity and pride of the Saudi people.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Saudia was in the mid-20th century. Saudia bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1920-2008) was a member of the Saudi royal family and the daughter of King Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.
Another notable figure with the name Saudia was Saudia Luttrell (1940-2008), an American film actress and model who appeared in several movies and television shows in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the world of sports, Saudia Roundtree (born 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the WNBA for several teams, including the Seattle Storm and the Chicago Sky.
Saudia Young (born 1975) is an American singer and songwriter who has collaborated with various artists in the gospel and contemporary Christian music genres.
Saudia Shakir (born 1977) is an American writer and poet who has published several collections of poetry and essays, exploring themes of identity, race, and gender.
While the name Saudia is predominantly associated with the Middle Eastern and Arabic culture, it has gained some popularity in other parts of the world, particularly among those with connections to Saudi Arabia or the Gulf region.
People
Saudia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saudia 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
Saudia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saudia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 392 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saudia 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 874,373 US residents.
Is Saudia a common name?
We classify Saudia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 421 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saudia most popular?
The single biggest year for Saudia was 1991, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saudia is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saudia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 456 people with the name Saudia, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,008 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 Saudia 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 Saudia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saudia appears almost entirely female. Of the 446 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 Saudia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saudia is Black at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (14.5%) and White (7.2%). 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 Saudia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Saudia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (296 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 Saudia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saudia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saudia 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 Saudia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saudia 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 Saudia 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 named Saudia?
Find out how many people share the name Saudia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.