Sara

What Sara means

Variant of Sarah, meaning “masters, princes”

variant of Sarah || From Biblical Hebrew שָׂרָה (śārâ, “lady, princess”), from the Biblical figure originally named Sarai (שָׂרָי (śārāy, literally “masters, princes”)).

Source: Wiktionary, “Sara” (revision 94543282) and “Sarah” (revision 93673625), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Sara?

US: Falling: down from #161 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #87 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1981, when 11,359 girls got the name (#26 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,025 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 593 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 942 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NJ (5.35 per 1,000 girls), NY (2.96 per 1,000 girls), MD (1.45 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Sara is #198 in the US and #110 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Sara were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Sarah2,710 US · 371 E&W
• Zara1,432 US · 625 E&W
• Zahra562 US · 418 E&W
• Sarai733 US · 20 E&W
• Zora264 US · 20 E&W
• Zaira224 US · 49 E&W
• Zarah151 US · 42 E&W
• Zyra118 US · 41 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Sara

Girls

• Nancy#965Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #78 vs #965 in 2025
• Cassandra#630Editor’s note Down from #512 in 2015 to #630 in 2025 in the US
• Amanda#493“to love”^*
• Jamie#857Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 12,895 babies; 316 in 2025
• Rachel#250“ewe”^*
• Jessica#665possibly “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe…^*

For a brother

• John#23possibly “God is gracious”^*
• Jon#951Variant of John, possibly meaning “God is gracious”^*
• Dennis#707“follower of (the wine god) Dionysus”^*
• Timothy#203“to honour + god”^*
• Jesse#184Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1981, with 10,443 babies; 2,002 in 2025
• Joseph#29“(God) shall add”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, Hebrew, Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Sara’s. Rank is US 2025.