Sarah

given name · Latin script

Recorded as a female name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise

Sarah is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country, where it is the 40th most common given name. In English, recorded as Hebrew: of Abraham, mother of Isaac in the Bible.

rarermore common
  • AUAustralia≈1 in 221(inferred from the name graph)
  • GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 228
  • USUnited States1 in 381

carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Sarah itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

United States (measured from records)

874,128 people, 2020

#76 (measured from records)

of 15M given names

9 (measured from records)

recorded for this name

Sources
655 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

≈1 in 221 (inferred from the name graph)

Australia, est.

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Spellings & scripts(measured from records)

SarahLatin(measured from records)
SarahArabic(measured from records)
שרהHebrew(measured from records)
ЗараCyrillic(measured from records)
세라Hangul(measured from records)
ՍառաArmenian(measured from records)
ซาร่าThai(measured from records)
სარაGeorgian(measured from records)
সারাহBengali(measured from records)

3 other spellings are counted as the same name:

Locally spelled שרה in IL Israel and Sara in SE Sweden.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

In Judaism, she is the first of the four matriarchs and a prophetess. In Christianity, she is a model of faith (Hebrews 11) and represents the 'free woman' of the covenant of grace (Galatians 4). In Islam, she is honored as the wife of Ibrahim and mother of Ishaq.

Sources 1

  • Biblical Names Compiled Database

Attested across 23 languages in the etymology graph.

How Sarah is read(measured from records)

Sarah is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

  • English73%

    Hebrew: of Abraham, mother of Isaac in the Bible

    as a nameBaby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

  • French6.8%

    From Hebrew sara(h), meaning 'princess'.

    as a nameLe grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

    Hebrew origin; Sarai becomes Sarah after adding a divine H. Biblical wife of Abram/Abraham; name-day not given.

    as a nameDictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Where in the world(measured from records)

Sarah counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.

Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.

Where Sarah is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
US United States#40874,1281 in 381873KSarah655
BR Brazil—304,917as Sara1 in 694305K—11
GB United Kingdom#21≈290,000 est.≈1 in 228666Sarah414
ID Indonesia#189≈260,000 est.≈1 in 1KlistedSarah216
NG Nigeria#54≈260,000 est.≈1 in 825—Sarah119
ES Spain#238179,954as Sara1 in 278180KSarah184
AU Australia#16≈120,000 est.≈1 in 221393Sarah342
SE Sweden#769,262as Sara1 in 14769KSara170
IL Israel#11≈47,000 est.≈1 in 186589שרה122

874,128 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.

Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; ONS — Baby names England and Wales (2024); CBS Israel — Names given to babies (1949–present); Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM); IBGE — names by decade (Kaggle mirror); INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos); Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).

Other names spelled this way(inferred from the name graph)

Sarah is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

  • French given name43 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in France, United States, Brazil, Philippines

    Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

    Also written Sàràh, Sara'H, Sãrãh, Säräh, Saràh

  • a separate name8 spellings in the group

    Also written Śaraḥ, Sarāh, Sāraḥ, Śarah, Sārah

  • Hungarian given name8 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Hungary, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden

    Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

    Also written Saráh, Sáráh, Sârâh, Sãrâh, Sãråh

  • Greek given name13 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Cyprus

    Also written Sara, Σάρα, Σαρα, Shara, Sarà

  • a separate given name20 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

    Also written Śåräh, Sarąh, Såřah, Sârãh, Säräh

86 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses(measured from records)

Sarah is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

  • In Judaism, she is the first of the four matriarchs and a prophetess. In Christianity, she is a model of faith (Hebrews 11) and represents the 'free woman' of the covenant of grace (Galatians 4). In Islam, she is honored as the wife of Ibrahim and mother of Ishaq.

    as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database

  • The name Sarah (שָׂרָה) means 'Princess', 'Noblewoman', or 'Chieftainess'. Her original name, Sarai (שָׂרָי), is often interpreted as 'My Princess' or potentially 'Contentious'.

    as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database

  • A timeless biblical name meaning 'princess', consistently popular in Western and Middle Eastern cultures for its elegance and historical significance.

    as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name(measured from records)

18001850190019502000Sarah Bernhardt, b. 1844Muriel Spark, b. 1918Sarah Ferguson, b. 1959Sarah Mullally, b. 1962Sarah Palin, b. 1964Sarah Clarke, b. 1972Olivia Colman, b. 1974Sarah Shahi, b. 1980Rachel Bilson, b. 1981Sarah McBride, b. 1990
  • Sarah Bernhardtb. 1844FRFrench stage actress, painter and sculptor (1844–1923)
  • Muriel Sparkb. 1918GBnot in their usual nameScottish novelist and writer (1918–2006)
  • Sarah Fergusonb. 1959GBBritish writer, charity patron, public speaker, film producer and television personality, and former Duchess of York
  • Sarah Mullallyb. 1962GB106th archbishop of Canterbury
  • Sarah Palinb. 1964USGovernor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009
  • Sarah Clarkeb. 1972USAmerican actress
  • Olivia Colmanb. 1974GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress
  • Sarah Shahib. 1980USAmerican actress and model (born 1980)
  • Rachel Bilsonb. 1981USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
  • Sarah McBrideb. 1990USAmerican human rights activist and politician (born 1990)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence(measured from records)

Attested in 160 sources across 87 countries.

Official registers attesting Sarah
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex2020873K#35
BR BrazilIBGE — names by decade (Kaggle mirror)2022100K—
BR BrazilIBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)—100K#315
BR BrazilIBGE — Nomes (census name API)—36K#968
BR BrazilIBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)202017K—
SE SwedenSkatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population)—9.4K#416
SE SwedenSCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023)20206.8K—
ES SpainINE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos)—4.9K#894
ES SpainINE — Nombres más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal)—4.4K#498
US United StatesSSA — National Baby Names (1880–present)20252.7K—
US United StatesCensus Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex2020929#35
BR BrazilIBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)—476#315

Reference works 7

  • The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
  • Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
  • Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
  • Wikipedia given-name tokens
  • Wikipedia surname tokens
  • Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
  • Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the name Sarah come from?
In Judaism, she is the first of the four matriarchs and a prophetess. In Christianity, she is a model of faith (Hebrews 11) and represents the 'free woman' of the covenant of grace (Galatians 4). Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
What are other forms of the name Sarah?
In the etymology graph, Sara, Sare and Sarina are forms of the same name in other languages; Sally, Sadie and Sallie are recorded short or pet forms.
Is Sarah a male or female name?
Sarah is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
In which country does Sarah have the most bearers?
In the United States, the national register counted about 874 thousand people named Sarah, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled sarah.
How common is the name Sarah?
In the United States, the national register counted 874,128 people named Sarah in 2020, about 1 in 381 residents.
How common is Sarah compared with other names?
In the United States, Sarah is the 40th most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.
What does the name Sarah mean?
In English, Hebrew: of Abraham, mother of Isaac in the Bible

What do you want to know about Sarah?

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Query this name via API
curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/sarah

The same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use; a free API key gives 1,000 requests a day, and bulk access is licensed separately.

About this data

measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated

These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Sarah” — the 40th most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Sarah parses inside a full name →