Sarah (given name)

Sarah is a feminine given name found in many different areas of the world. It is a consistently popular given name across Europe and North America,[1] and the Middle East—being commonly used as a female first name by Jews and Christians alike, and remaining popular also among non-religious members of cultures influenced by these religions.

In Arabic, Sarah translates to joy and delight. While frequently, the name refers to Sarah, the wife of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, and the Islamic Quran. In Hebrew, and Persian, it means woman of high rank, often simply translated as "Princess". In Modern Hebrew, "sarah" (שרה) is the female form of the word "minister".

In the United States, Sarah has been counted among the top 150 given names since 1880, when name popularity statistics were first recorded in the United States. Sarah ranked among the top 10 names from 1978 to 2002, reaching a plateau of popularity from the early 1980s to 1988. Every year since and including 1989 it has fallen in popularity, but it remained the 30th most popular name for newborn girls in 2010. Its most common variant spelling, Sara, was number 121.[2]

The name has been similarly popular in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In England, it gained popularity after the Protestant Reformation.[1] In 2014, Sarah ranked as the tenth most popular female baby name in Ireland.[3]

In Nazi Germany, female Jews who did not have "typically Jewish" given names were forced to add "Sara" as of January 1939, whereas males were forced to add "Israel".[4][5]