ninan.org

Sara

Girls' name · Late 20th-century

Living in the US
~358,000 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#198 among girls
Births in 2025
1,568 437,441 since 1880
Typical age
39 years, median

Sara popularity over time

Sara rank by birth year, 1880–2025Sara ranked #110 in 1880 and #198 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #26, in 1981.#100#198best #26 in 198118901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

1981 is the peak year for Sara, with 11,391 births. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. Sara has spent 36 years inside the national top 100.

As of 2025 the name sits at #198, with 1,568 births that year. The ten-year change is -21%.

Babies named Sara per yearPeaks at 11,391 births in 1981.11,391 in 1981018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Sara?

An estimated 358,000 living Americans are called Sara. SSA has recorded 437,441 births under the name since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Sara?

The typical living Sara is 39 years old. Most living bearers were born in the 1980s. By the site’s era rules that makes Sara a late 20th-century name.

Your Sara

Ages of living people named SaraHalf of living Saras are older than 39 and half younger.median 39020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Sara is most common

The name is concentrated in New Jersey, at 4.3× the national rate. New York, District of Columbia and Maryland follow.

Where Sara is used more than average5 states use the name Sara more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: 2.9× the national rateNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: 4.3× the national rateNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: 1.4× the national rateMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 1.6× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: 1.4× the national rateALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Sara is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
New Jersey 1,633 4.3×
New York 2,446 2.9×
District of Columbia 51 1.6×
Maryland 332 1.4×
Alabama 276 1.4×

Sara in England and Wales

ONS recorded 427 births named Sara in 2025, ranking it #110.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Sara comes from

From Latin Sara (“Sarah”).

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Sara

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Sara Bareilles American recording artist; pop rock singer-songwriter and pianist 1979 48
Sara Errani Italian tennis player 1987 46
Sara Teasdale American writer and poet 1884–1933 42
Sara Ramirez Mexican-American actor and singer 1975 38
Sara Gilbert American actress 1975 38
Sara Canning Canadian actress 1987 35
Sara Ahmed British-Australian scholar (b. 1985) 1969 35
Sara Duterte Vice President of the Philippines since 2022 1978 35
Photo credits (6)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 5,143 in 1975 to 8,050 in 1976 — 1.6 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

How Sara is usually spelled

Spellings within one or two letters of each other, and how 2025 births divided between them.
SpellingBirths in 2025Share
Sarah 2,710 63%
Sara this page 1,568 37%

Names similar to Sara

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Sara was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/sara.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).