Sarah is a common feminine given name of
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
origin. It derives its popularity from the biblical matriarch
Sarah, the wife of
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
and a major figure in the
Abrahamic religions
The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran.
Jewish tradition ...
. It is a consistently popular given name across Europe, North America,
and the Middle East—being commonly used as a female first name by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, and remaining popular also among non-religious members of cultures influenced by these religions.
In
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, Sarah (שָׂרָה) is the feminine form of the noun Sar (שַׂר), which commonly translates to "chief", "ruler" or "prince". It is also related to the verb שָׂרָה, which is also the basis of the name
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. In
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the H ...
, Sarah (שָׂרָה) is the feminine form of the word for "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.
[Popular Baby Names]
Social Security Administration, United States. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
The name has been similarly popular in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In England, it gained popularity after the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
.
In 2014, Sarah ranked as the tenth most popular female baby name in Ireland.
In
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, 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
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
".
Translations
* Albanian: Sara
* Amharic: ሳራ (Sara)
* Arabic: سارة
* Aramaic:ܣܪܐ
* Armenian: Սառա
* Azerbaijani: Sara
* Bashkir:
Сара (Sara)
* Belarusian: Сара (Sara)
* Balochi: saraa
* Bengali: সারাহ (Sārāha)
* Biblical Greek: Sarra
* Biblical Latin: Sara
* Bosnian: Sara
* Bulgarian: Сара (Sara)
* Catalan: Sara
* Chinese Simplified: 莎拉 (
pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...
: Shā lā)
* Chinese Traditional: 莎拉 (
pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...
: Shā lā)
* Croatian: Sara
* Czech:
Sára
* Danish: Sara
* Dutch: Sarah, Sara
* Estonian: Saara
* English: Sarah, Sara
* Faroese:
Sára
* Finnish: Saara, Sari, Saija, Salli, Sara
* French: Sarah
* German: Sarah, Sara
* Greek: Σάρα (Sára)
* Gujarati: સારાહ (Sārāha)
* Haitian Creole: Sara
* Hawaiian: Kala
* Hebrew: שרה (Sārā)
* Hindi: सराह (Sarāha)
* Hungarian:
Sára, Sári, Sárika, Sarolta, Sasa
* Icelandic: Sara
* Iranian: سارا
* Italian: Sara
* Irish: Sorcha, Saraid, Sarah
* Japanese: サラ (Sara), 沙羅 (Sara)
* Kannada: ಸಾರಾ (Sārā)
* Khmer: សារ៉ា (Sara)
* Korean: 사라 (Sara)
* Lithuanian: Sara
* Macedonian: Сара (Sara)
* Maori: Hara
* Marathi: सारा (Sārā)
* Mongolian: Сара (Sara)
* Malayalam: സാറ, Sara, Saramma
* Nepali: सारा (Sārā)
* Norwegian: Sara
* Persian: سارا
* Polish: Sara
* Portuguese: Sara
* Romanian: Sara
* Russian: Сара (Sara), Sarka, Sarra
* Sanskrit: सार (Sara)
* Serbian: Сара/Sara
* Slovak:
Sára
* Slovene: Sara
* Somali: Sara
* Spanish: Sara, Sarita, Zara
* Swedish: Sara
* Tamil: சாரா (Cārā)
* Telugu: సారా (Sārā)
* Thai: ซาร่าห์ (Sā r̀ā h̄̒)
* Tigrigna: ሳራ (Sara)
* Turkish: Sare
* Uzbek: Sora
* Ukrainian: Сара (Sara)
* Urdu: سارہ
* Vietnamese: Sara
* Welsh: Sara
* Yiddish: שרה (Soro), Sirke
Other forms
* Other variants of the name are:
Sara
Sara may refer to:
Arts, media and entertainment Film and television
* ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui
* ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda
* ''Sara'' (2010 film), 2010 Sri Lankan Sinhal ...
(alternatively pronounced )
*
Pet forms
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
of the name are:
Sally
Sally may refer to:
People
*Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name
Military
* Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port
*Sally, the Allied reporting na ...
,
Sadie
See also
*
Sarah (disambiguation)
Sarah is a biblical matriarch and the wife of Abraham.
Sarah may also refer to:
Books
* ''Sarah'' (Card novel), a 2000 novel by Orson Scott Card
* ''Sarah'' (Johnson book), a 2008 biography of Sarah Palin
* ''Sarah'' (LeRoy novel), a 2001 no ...
*
*
References
{{given name, Sarah or Sara, nocat
Given names of Hebrew language origin
Hebrew feminine given names
English feminine given names
Jewish feminine given names
Arabic feminine given names
Scandinavian feminine given names
Pakistani feminine given names
Feminine given names