Sarah

given name · English · Latin script

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

Sarah is a given name, most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is the 25th most common given name. It appears chiefly in English and French, written in the Latin script. Recorded meaning: In Judaism, she is the first of the four matriarchs and a prophetess.

rarermore common
  • SASaudi Arabia1 in 29◐
  • KWKuwait1 in 64
  • ILIsrael1 in 118

carrying the name, one hue, darker where it is more common. Hover a country for its figure.

≈1.7M ●

across 11 countries

#132 ●

of 16M given names

9 ●

recorded for this name

Sources
592 ●

12M records

Official registry-verified

1 in 147 ◐

Sweden

Spellings & scripts●

SarahLatin · English●8.1M records
שרהHebrew · Hebrew●681K records
ЗараCyrillic · Russian●28K records
세라Hangul · Korean●8.8K records
ᲡარაGeorgian · Georgian●2.4K records
ሳራEthiopic · Amharic●802 records
ซาร่าThai · Thai●544 records
ՍառաArmenian · Armenian●5 records
সারাহBengali · Bangla●1 records

4 other spellings are counted as the same name:

Locally spelled Sara in SA Saudi Arabia, BR Brazil, IT Italy and 11 more, שרה in IL Israel, PL Poland, Saera in FR France and Saara in FI Finland.

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

Meaning & origin●

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.

Where in the world●

Sorted by bearers counted by national registers, records where none counts.

Where Sarah is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
GB United Kingdom#25994,721785K rec.—666Sarah317
US United States#44873,1998.4M rec.1 in 381873KSarah592
SA Saudi Arabia#6772,24711K rec.——Sara174
AU Australia#18674,679447K rec.—393Sarah320
IL Israel#11574,371591K rec.—589שרה116
BR Brazil#895304,917△1.8K rec.1 in 694305KSara9
CA Canada#28286,986203K rec.—48Sarah267
DE Germany#90274,417250K rec.—2Sarah291
IT Italy#25203,81470K rec.—43Sara198
EG Egypt#10188,77259K rec.—listedSara165
ES Spain—179,954△60K rec.1 in 278180KSara181
FR France—174,005△4.6K rec.1 in 390174KSaera18

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

Languages●

  • English8.1M63%
  • French1.2M10%
  • Portuguese1M8%
  • German454K4%
  • 369K3%
Show as table
Languages in which the name is recorded
NameRecordsNote
English8,097,36463%
French1,245,45610%
Portuguese1,012,8838%
German454,3164%
368,5823%

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

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 name2.7M records spelled Sarah43 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in France, Brazil, United States, Philippines

    Languages: French, Portuguese, Spanish

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

  • a separate given name397K records spelled Sarah8 spellings in the group

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

    Also written Śarah, Sārah, Sarāh, Sarâh, Śaraḥ

  • Finnish given name24K records spelled Sarah8 spellings in the group

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

    Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

    Also written Sáráh, Saráh, Sârâh, Sãrâh, Sãråh

  • Greek given name16K records spelled Sarah13 spellings in the group

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

    Also written Sara, Σαρα, Shara, Σάρα, Såråh

  • a separate given name5.8K records spelled Sarah20 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Tanzania

    Also written Sãräh, Šåřah, Šãråh, Sãrãh, Śåräh

85 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●

Sarah is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

  • 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

  • In French, From Hebrew sara(h), meaning 'princess'.

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

  • In French, 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

  • In English, 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…

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.

Over time●

010K20K30K19001950200028K · 1982

Show as table
Sarah in SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present), United States, 1880–2025
Yearrecords
18801,288
18811,226
18821,410
18831,359
18841,518
18851,424
18861,569
18871,436
18881,755
18891,730
18901,786
18911,669
18921,798
18931,632
18941,701
18951,777
18961,691
18971,713
18981,800
18991,587
19002,054
19011,514
19021,710
19031,553
19041,594
19051,762
19061,697
19071,799
19081,814
19091,845
19102,173
19112,201
19122,919
19133,178
19143,679
19154,415
19164,798
19174,766
19184,969
19195,022
19205,031
19215,024
19224,982
19234,963
19245,045
19254,685
19264,424
19274,555
19284,244
19293,816
19303,920
19313,636
19323,597
19333,621
19343,601
19353,615
19363,515
19373,588
19383,749
19393,671
19403,869
19413,982
19424,100
19433,990
19443,857
19453,592
19463,910
19474,223
19484,159
19494,295
19504,143
19514,028
19524,046
19534,086
19544,040
19553,979
19563,875
19573,987
19583,913
19593,869
19604,205
19614,204
19624,548
19634,571
19644,583
19654,062
19664,034
19674,139
19684,489
19695,078
19705,614
19715,843
19726,114
19737,214
19749,788
197511,170
197613,993
197718,096
197819,976
197921,015
198025,757
198128,175
198228,483
198327,228
198425,887
198524,879
198628,163
198727,894
198828,374
198927,797
199025,824
199125,233
199224,634
199324,257
199422,299
199521,395
199621,048
199720,716
199819,898
199919,119
200017,715
200115,929
200214,779
200313,785
200412,758
200511,555
200611,161
200710,014
20089,055
20097,794
20106,341
20115,571
20125,207
20134,715
20144,717
20154,535
20164,429
20174,036
20183,781
20193,325
20203,070
20212,865
20222,809
20232,771
20242,719
20252,710

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

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●

Attested in 156 sources across 86 countries.

Official registers attesting Sarah
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex2020873K#35
FR FranceINSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024)2024174K#65
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
AT AustriaStatistik Austria — STATatlas Vornamen WFS (per-name time series 1984–2024)202424K#44
BR BrazilIBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)202017K—
NO NorwaySSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population)—14K#323
NL NetherlandsMeertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017)—11K#354
DK DenmarkDanmarks Statistik — Hvor mange hedder...? (living-population name counts)—11K#63
SE SwedenSkatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population)—9.4K#416
SE SwedenSCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023)20206.8K—

Reference works 6

  • 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)

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

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 2,202 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Sarah?
We estimate roughly 1.7 million people bear Sarah (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.
In which country does Sarah have the most bearers?
Sarah is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled sarah.
How common is Sarah compared with other names?
In the United Kingdom, Sarah is the 25th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.
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.
What does the name Sarah mean?
Recorded meaning: In Judaism, she is the first of the four matriarchs and a prophetess.
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. Bulk access and licensing.

About this data

● measured from records◐ inferred from the name graph○ machine-generated

Data snapshot . Figures are rebuilt periodically and will change.

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 25th most common given name in United Kingdom. Data snapshot 2026-09-12.

See how Sarah parses inside a full name →