Sarah

Where Sarah comes from

From Biblical Hebrew שָׂרָה (śārâ, “lady, princess”), from the Biblical figure originally named Sarai (שָׂרָי (śārāy, literally “masters, princes”)).
— Wiktionary's entry for Sarah
  • Hebrew
  • Arabic
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1844
    Sarah Bernhardt born
    French stage actress, painter and sculptor
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #10 among girls — 1,288 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1964
    Sarah Palin born
    Governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009
  4. 1993
    Peak, #3
    24,257 babies named Sarah — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1993
    The comeback
    Back to #3 after sinking to #119 in 1959.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Hebrew.
  • A female given name from Arabic, ultimately from the same source.
Namesakes
  • Sarah Bernhardt · French stage actress, painter and sculptor, 1844–1923
  • Sarah Palin · Governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009, born 1964
  • Sarah Jessica Parker · American actress, born 1965
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar · American actress, born 1977
  • Sarah Wayne Callies · American actress and director, born 1977

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.