How popular is the baby name Sara in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Sara.

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Popularity of the baby name Sara


Posts that mention the name Sara

Popular baby names in Norway, 2016

Flag of Norway
Flag of Norway

According to data released back in January by Statistics Norway, the most popular baby names in Norway in 2016 were Nora/Norah/Noora and William.

Here are Norway’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names

  1. Nora/Norah/Noora, 551 baby girls
  2. Emma, 410
  3. Sara/Sarah/Zara, 379
  4. Sofie/Sophie, 367
  5. Sofia/Sophia, 340
  6. Maja/Maia/Maya, 324
  7. Olivia, 323
  8. Ella, 313
  9. Ingrid/Ingerid/Ingri, 310
  10. Emilie, 309

Boy Names

  1. William, 498 baby boys
  2. Oskar/Oscar, 420
  3. Lucas/Lukas, 408
  4. Mathias/Matias, 397
  5. Filip/Fillip/Philip/Phillip, 396
  6. Oliver, 385
  7. Jakob/Jacob, 378
  8. Emil, 369
  9. Noah/Noa, 362
  10. Aksel/Axel, 359
Norway, girl names, 2016

This image is a piece of a larger infographic showing the most popular baby names in each Norwegian county. In two counties, Oppland and Aust-Agder, the top girl name last year was the intriguing Tiril. Tiril seems to have no specific meaning; it may have been derived from the (nonsense?) word tirilil from the 19th century poem “Lokkende Toner” by Johan Sebastian Welhaven.

(A similar name we talked about recently was Tirrell.)

I forgot to post Norway’s 2015 rankings, but in 2014 the top names were Nora/Norah and Lucas/Lukas.

Sources: Navn – SSB, Tiril – Nordic Names

Top image: Adapted from Flag of Norway (public domain)

Where did the baby name Farah come from in 1960?

Farah Diba on the cover of Life magazine (Dec. 1959)
Farah Diba

The last Shah of Iran had three wives — first Fawzia, second Soraya, and finally Farah: Farah Diba, who was a 21-year-old commoner when she married the king in Tehran at the very end of 1959.

The Arabic name Farah, which means “joy,” appeared for the first time in the SSA’s baby name data the next year:

  • 1962: 14 baby girls named Farah
  • 1961: 12 baby girls named Farah
  • 1960: 19 baby girls named Farah [debut]
  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted

The couple went on to have four children: Reza (the male heir the Shah had been waiting for), Farahnaz, Ali-Reza, and Leila.

Little Reza never got a chance to rule Iran, though, because the royal family was forced to flee during the Iranian Revolution at the end of the 1970s. By the time the Shah died of cancer in 1980, the new leader of the country was Ayatollah Khomeini.

The similar name Farrah first appeared in the data in the late ’60s. It would go on to see a dramatic spike in usage in 1976-1977 thanks to Farrah Fawcett (whose name at birth was actually Ferrah).

Another similar name, Fara, predates both Farah and Farrah on the charts. Fara has been in the U.S. data since the 1910s. (Other unexpected Sara- and Clara-clones from that era include Flara, Gara, Para, and Nara.)

Do you like the name Farah? Which spelling do you prefer?

P.S. The male names Reza and Alireza started appearing in the U.S. data in the ’60s and ’70s, respectively.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the cover of Life magazine (Dec. 1959)

Popular baby names in the Netherlands, 2016

Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands

According to data released by Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) in mid-January, the most popular baby names in the Netherlands in 2016 were Anna and Daan.

Here are the Netherlands’ top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl names

  1. Anna, 665 baby girls
  2. Emma, 664 (tie)
  3. Tess, 664 (tie)
  4. Sophie, 644
  5. Julia, 639
  6. Zoë, 558
  7. Evi, 557
  8. Mila, 549
  9. Sara, 542
  10. Eva, 526

Boy names

  1. Daan, 681 baby boys
  2. Noah, 679
  3. Sem, 663
  4. Lucas, 651
  5. Jesse, 645
  6. Finn, 640
  7. Milan, 630
  8. Max, 617
  9. Levi, 597
  10. Luuk, 595

On the girls’ list, Anna replaced Emma as the #1 name and Evi replaced Lotte in the top 10.

And on the boys’ list? All kinds of drama! Liam, which rose very quickly over the last few years to reach the top spot in 2015, not only lost that top spot to Daan, but dropped out of the top 10 entirely (!), replaced by Max. Liam now ranks unlucky 13th.

And what about unique names in the Netherlands? Here are a whole bunch, each used just once last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Aimée-Amélie
Alien
Alouette
Annephine
Anthillia
Aprilmoon
Aunorin
Ayudissa
Bardot
Bellefien
Berfu
Berilinci
Bixx
Blue-Ivy
Cacharell
Carovienne
Cephei
Cleodie
Coco-Chloè
Comfort
Cortana
Daxana
Daylite
Dimphey
Djoody
Dorka
Ecrin Ans
Egberdina
El’genneallèe
Eliflina
Emily-Vespii
Fairlychiona
Farangis
Faten
Faybe
Floore
Foxx
Frozan
Gigi-Ice
Gilviëntelly
Gynniva
Hillegonda
Indivancely
Ismini
Jochempje
Joomony
Kicky
Kricheliënne
Lammerdina
Lemon
Lilly-Phylou
Marryth
Medellín
Medusa
Meritxell
Nawprisca
Ot
Peggy-Sue
Pidoux
Pippilotta
Pluk
Ponyo
Quby
Quvenshané
Raidiënsheanix
Riva-Beaugeane
Ro-Quennety
Rover
Safrinza
Sensabelle
Seven
Sharvienshelly
Shomookh
Similiza
Ska
Smadar
Spogmay
Stin-cay
Swendelyn
Sybrecht
Tanzilla
Tippie-Tipper
Tulp
Umm
Utopia
Valexiane
Vellizar
Vilouella
Wesseldina
Xee’D
Yesmae
Yf
Ypie
Yucki
Zeltia
Zwanny		Aizeyosabor
Alain-Rainièr
Alaith
Alpcan
Amazing
Andrianiaina
Apache
Avestan
Bentivolio
Boef (“crook”)
Bonifacius
Bowdy
C-cayden
Casey-Chase
Chyrome
Cimarrón
Cornelis-Wilhelmus
Criff
D’Har-Chenoo
Daex
Dandy
Day-sravencio
Depp
Diablo
Digentley
Divinepraise
Djesco
Dubbele
Earlysean
Exegese
Ferdixon
Fince
Floki
G-Wendley
Gantulga
Ghevently
Ginuwine
Givenchy
Guevara
Guswently
Haliltalha
Heavenly-ion
Hunk
Iody
Jaap-Joost
Jacquill
Jill-Qiano
Jinx
Kainoa
Kiff
King-Maldive
Laiphanara
Largo
Marcus-Aurelius
Mcnelly
Mees-Senn
Motomichi
Mowgli
Mylox
Myway
Niamh
Ntsinzi
Oovy
Phat
Pit
Poppy
Pux
Q’ZHN
Quintyliano
Rafflow
Ridge
Rowinio
S’Lienio
Scato
Sergiovanni
Sicco
Solve
Splinther
Stork
Sunnery
T’cxzayneau
Tamonry
Taverdu
Thaividley
Trelawny
Typhoon
Vishnu
Wagdy
Wart
Xuze
Ymt
Yucca
Zbigniew
Zhyphienyoh
Zjurvendell
Zweder

At first I thought Sergiovanni might be an epic mash-up of Sergio and Giovanni, but then I found out that it’s just an Italian surname — Giovanni prefixed by ser, an occupational word for a notary.

Sources: Kindernamen – SVB, Daan and Anna top the list of most popular Dutch baby names – DutchNewsn.nl

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)

Popular baby names in Israel, 2015

Flag of Israel
Flag of Israel

According to data released earlier this week by Israel’s Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS), the top three most popular baby names in the country overall in 2015 were:

  1. Mohammed
  2. Yosef (used for male babies — both Muslim and Jewish)
  3. Ariel (used for Jewish babies — both male and female)

The top baby names for Jewish babies specifically were Noa and Noam:

Girl names (Jewish)

1. Noa
2. Tamar
3. Maya
4. Avigayil/Avigail/Abigail
5. Talya/Talia
6. Adele
7. Shira
8. Ayala/Ayela
9. Yael
10. Sarah/Sara

Boy names (Jewish)

1. Noam
2. David
3. Ori/Uri
4. Ariel
5. Eitan
6. Yosef
7. Itai/Itay
8. Yonatan
9. Daniel
10. Moshe

The CBS also reported that the boy names Dror, Yagel/Yigal, and Alroi/Elroi/Elroy each saw a sharp rise in usage in 2015.

The top baby names for Muslim babies specifically were Maryam and Mohammad:

Girl names (Muslim)

1. Maryam/Miryam/Mariam
2. Sha’im
3. Jana/Janah
4. Lin
5. Lian/Layan
6. Alin/Aline
7. Sa’ara

Boy names (Muslim)

1. Mohammad
2. Ahmed
3. Yosef
4. Omar
5. Adam
6. Jud/Jod
7. Abed
8. Ali
9. Amir
10. Ibrahim

The 2012 rankings for Israel are pretty similar.

Update, Oct. 2017: Here’s an interesting fact about Israel’s 2014 rankings (which I never wrote a post about): “Eitan soared in popularity to No. 5 from 10th place in 2014, a surge attributed to that year’s war in Gaza dubbed Operation Protective Edge, or Mivtza Tzuk Eitan in Hebrew.” (Source: Times of Israel)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Israel (public domain)