About Sage
Sage is an English word name with two meanings: a wise person and the aromatic herb. Those associations have different word histories, even though modern English gives them the same spelling and sound. The name is used for girls and boys, with both series showing substantial recent American use.
Two meanings
The wisdom sense comes through Old French sage from a Latin word connected with being wise or having discernment. English has used sage for a wise person since the Middle Ages, particularly someone respected for judgment and learning.
The herb has a separate origin. Its name comes through French sauge from Latin salvia, associated with health. The plant's long history as a kitchen herb gives Sage a concrete botanical connection alongside the abstract association with wisdom.
Both meanings are familiar without needing a longer formal name. Saige is a modern spelling variant. It preserves the pronunciation while making the name look less like the ordinary English word.
Pronunciation
Sage has one syllable, rhyming with page. The ending is the soft j sound heard in age. Its short form is already the complete name; it does not require a nickname or an expanded version to explain it.
Sage Kotsenburg
American snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg won gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the first Olympic men's snowboard slopestyle event. Slopestyle combines features such as rails and jumps along a course, giving competitors opportunities to link different tricks into a run.
His victory placed the name at the beginning of a new Olympic event's history. It is a specific sporting association for Sage, separate from either the plant or the wise-person meaning.
Sage Steele
Broadcaster Sage Steele is another public bearer. She worked at ESPN from 2007 to 2023, including as a host of SportsCenter. She also hosted NBA Countdown on ESPN and ABC from 2013 to 2017 before returning to SportsCenter.
Her career gives the name a connection with sports journalism as well as competition. Kotsenburg and Steele also illustrate its established use across sexes, something that appears clearly in American birth records.
Popularity in the United States
In 1980, the SSA recorded 35 boys and 35 girls named Sage. By 2000 those counts had grown to 392 boys and 557 girls. More recently, girls have accounted for a larger share of registrations.
The largest count for girls was 2,014 in 2022, while the best girls' rank was 142 in 2023. The boys' count and rank peaked together in 2022, at 828 births and number 387.
In 2025 Sage ranked 160 for girls, with 1,853 births, and 456 for boys, with 684. These figures show a name that has grown in both series while becoming especially common for girls.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning and history draw on the references below. Popularity figures use Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling and sex; counts below five are omitted. Existing Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA. Informal shortening suggestions are identified in the prose.
- Wiktionary: Sage (English)
- Social Security Administration: national name data
- Wikidata: Sage Stallone
- Wikidata: Sage Kotsenburg
- Wikidata: Sage Watson
- Wikidata: Sage Brocklebank
- Wikidata: Sage Karam
- Wikidata: Sage Kirkpatrick
- Wikidata: Sage Rosenfels
- Wikidata: Sage Steele
- Sage: word history
- U.S. Ski & Snowboard: Sage Kotsenburg
- Sage Steele: biography
Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
How popular is Sage?
In 2025, Sage ranked #160 among girls in the United States, with 1,853 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1963; its largest annual count was 2,014 in 2022. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.