Scheherazade

Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Scheherazade has been given to 48 babies in the U.S. since 1948. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1968, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Scheherazade, 1978

1 in 635,000

Scheherazade over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Scheherazade: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Persian

What Scheherazade means

Scheherazade has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: “child of the city”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from German Scheherazade, from Russian Шехераза́да (Šexerazáda), from Classical Persian شَهْرَازَاد (šahrāzād), alternative form of شَهْرْزَاد (šahrzād); either a reborrowing from Arabic شَهْرْزَاد (šahrzād) from Middle Persian *čihrāzād⁠, equivalent to New Persian چهر (čihr /čehr, “lineage”) + آزاد (āzād /âzâd, “noble”), or a compound of شهر (šahr, “city”) + زاد (zād /zâd, “child of”), in which case there was likely no reborrowing through Arabic involved. Given name popularized by the fictional character below.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Scheherazade (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Scheherazade is used in English and German. Its origins include Persian.

Scheherazade comes through German Scheherazade, Russian Шехераза́да, fa-cls شَهْرَازَاد, Arabic شَهْرْزَاد and Middle Persian *čihrāzād⁠.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include شَهْرْزَاد, شهرزاد and Scheherazade.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Scheherazade is pronounced /ʃəˈhɛɹəzɑd/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 48 girls were recorded with the name Scheherazade between 1948 and 1978. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1968; its best national rank was #5,542 in 1968.

How common is Scheherazade?

Scheherazade had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1978, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1978: 1 in 635,000; 5 of 3,173,639 births
Among girls only: 1 in 306,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1978: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 439,961 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Scheherazade 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 1978 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 439,961 children born in 1978 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Scheherazade. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Scheherazades were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Scheherazade was born before 1970 — so the typical Scheherazade is around 55 today.

Median birth year: 1970; About 55 years old
Biggest decade: 1970s; 62.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 89.6%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 43; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1970s — 62.5% of all recorded uses (30).

Is Scheherazade 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1968 (8)
Years since peak: 57; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Steady; 10.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #5,542; 1968

Scheherazade around the world

Where Scheherazade 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.

France
1965–2008
#4,626
in 2008

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Scheherazade by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #5,542; 1968
Peak year: 1968; 8 that year
First recorded: 1948
Last recorded: 1978
All-time count: 48
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Scheherazade

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

Sibling names for Scheherazade

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

For a sister

Nichelle Aretha Brigette Josette Cami Missy Marnie Evette

For a brother

Kraig Kelley Thad Tracey Jacques Deron Judd Douglass

Explore around Scheherazade

Top names of 1968, Scheherazade's peak year The 1960s in full Other names that peaked in 1968 Girls' names starting with S Persian Girl Names