Sarah (given name)

Sarah
Gender	Female
Origin
Word/Name	Hebrew [1]
Meaning	"Princess", "Woman of high rank".[1]
Other names
Related names	Sara, Sarai, Sadie, Sasa

Sarah (alternatively spelled Sara) is a feminine given name found in many different areas of the world. Frequently, the name refers to Sarah, the wife of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, and the Islamic Quran. It is of Hebrew origin, meaning "Princess".

Sarah is a consistently popular given name across Europe and North America^[1], as well as in the Middle East - being commonly used as a female first name by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and remaining popular also among non-religious members of cultures influenced by these religions. In the United States, Sara ranked among the top 10 names from 1978 to 2002. As of 2010^[update], it remained the 30th most popular name for newborn girls.

The name has, similarly, gained much popularity in Ireland and the United Kingdom; in 2003, Sarah ranked one of the top 5 most popular Irish baby names. In Iran, Sarah also reliably ranks in the nation's top 1000 names^{[importance?]} for female newborns.^[2]

Sarah has been counted among the top 150 given names since 1880, when name popularity statistics were first recorded in the United States. Its most common variant spelling, Sara, was number 121 in 2010.^[3]

In contemporary Israeli Hebrew, "sarah" (שרה), derived from the same linguistic origin, is also the word for "woman minister".

Other forms

• Variants of the name are: Sara, Zara.
• Pet forms of the name are: Sally, Sadie.

See also

• Sarah (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with "Sara"
• All pages beginning with "Sarah"

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Behind the Name: Sara". http://www.behindthename.com/name/sarah. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 
2. ^ Statistics at Iran's National Organization for Civil Registration (Persian)
3. ^ Social Security Administration

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