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Sahara

#1,978 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Sahara has been given to 4,734 babies in the U.S. since 1964. In 2025 it ranked #1,978 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 248 recorded.

Babies named Sahara, 2025

1 in 33,800

Sahara over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sahara: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Sahara means

Sahara is a given name.

The naming story behind Sahara

Wikidata records Sahara as a female given name. The entity identifier is Q20001018, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,729 girls were recorded with the name Sahara between 1964 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 248 in 2006; its best national rank was #1,035 in 2006.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,500 in 2020 to #1,978 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,738 in 2015 to #1,978 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Sahara between 2003 and 2003. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2003; its best national rank was #12,406 in 2003.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Sahara?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 33,800
98 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 16,400
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,978
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
23,449 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sahara sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 23,449 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sahara. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Saharas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sahara was born before 2008 — so the typical Sahara is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
32.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
74.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,729
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 32.7% of all recorded uses (1,546).

Is Sahara rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−333
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−478
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−240
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.81×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
39.5%
Peak was 2006 (248)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,035
2006

Spellings of Sahara

Sahara is not the most common spelling — Sandra is, with 50.6% against Sahara's 0.27%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Sahara is used

Across 2016–2025, Sahara was most concentrated in Florida — about 1 in 7,143 girls, against 1 in 12,584 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 50,000).

214 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Florida1 in 7,143
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in 7,143
  3. 3Georgia1 in 7,692
  4. 4New York1 in 10,000
  5. 5California1 in 11,111
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 14,286
  7. 7Texas1 in 14,286
  8. 8Illinois1 in 16,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Sahara around the world

Where Sahara ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #3,333
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2009–2009
    #783
    in 2009
  • France
    1985–2021
    #6,461
    in 2021
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,469
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1995–2013
    #403
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Sahara

People whose public names include Sahara, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Sahara by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,978
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 478
Best rank ever
#1,035
2006
Peak year
2006
248 that year
First recorded
1964
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,729
Count in 2025
98

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#12,406
2003
Peak year
2003
5 that year
First recorded
2003
Last recorded
2003
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Sahara

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SahanaSaharChiaraZaharaSahasraSahilyAdharaSharaSahiraKamaraKeyaraAinaraKyaraKeiaraKataraTakaraKlaraSahraAdaraInaraAlaraDamaraSiaraSamara

Names with a curve like Sahara

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Sahara, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

JaslynKarolinaAnaliseKaliaAnnelieseAnnalieseKaleaKamariaMarinAkiraNoelaniAnnelise

Sibling names for Sahara

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Sahara

Top names of 2006, Sahara's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2006Girls' names starting with S