Sabian
A name of uncertain origin possibly meaning "stargazer" or "astronomer".
Name Census estimates that about 944 living Americans carry the first name Sabian. It is a predominantly male name (97.8% of registrations). The average person named Sabian today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sabian births was 1999 (99 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sabian. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sabian with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
944
~ 1 in 363,087 Americans
Peak year
1999
99 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,811
Tracked since 1976
Census
Sabian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 855 people with the first name Sabian, which placed it at #13,939 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#13,939
National first-name rank
People counted
855
855 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
34.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sabian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sabian is Hispanic at 34.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.3%) and Black (22.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sabian described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sabian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino34.4% · 294
- White32.3% · 276
- Black or African American22.2% · 190
- Two or more races6.2% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Sabian
Sabian leans heavily male at 97.8% of total registrations, but 21 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sabian as a male name
- Ranked #8,811 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (93 births)
Sabian as a female name
- Ranked #17,387 in 2001
- 5 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1999 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sabian leans strongly male. 811 people counted with this name were male (94.9%), compared with 44 female bearers (5.1%).
Popularity
Sabian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sabian from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 441 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sabian by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sabian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sabians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Sabian, while Ohio, New York, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sabian
The name Sabian is believed to have its origins in ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran. It is thought to be derived from the Persian word "sab," meaning "morning" or "dawn." The name likely emerged during the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled over a vast territory from around 550 BCE to 330 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sabian can be found in the Avesta, the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. It is believed that a figure named Sabian was mentioned in these ancient texts, though the exact context and details are not entirely clear.
During the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century, there are records of several notable individuals bearing the name Sabian. One such figure was Sabian ibn Kulthum, a renowned poet and scholar who lived in the 9th century. Another was Sabian al-Mawsili, a celebrated musician and composer who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate in the late 8th and early 9th centuries.
In the medieval period, there are records of a Sabian ibn Yahya, a prominent mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 10th century. He made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry and is credited with developing advanced methods for calculating sine and cosine tables.
Another notable figure with the name Sabian was Sabian al-Dimashqi, a Syrian historian and geographer who lived in the 13th century. He is best known for his comprehensive work, "The Book of Geography," which provided detailed descriptions of various regions and their inhabitants.
In more recent history, one of the most famous individuals with the name Sabian was Sabian Tutunchian, an Armenian-Iranian painter and sculptor who lived from 1905 to 1968. He was a prominent figure in the modern art movement in Iran and is celebrated for his unique style that blended Persian and Western influences.
These are just a few examples of the rich history and diverse individuals who have borne the name Sabian throughout the centuries. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Persia, the name has transcended cultural and geographical boundaries, leaving its mark on various fields and across different eras.
People
Sabian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sabian as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sabian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sabian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 944 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sabian going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 363,087 US residents.
Is Sabian a common name?
We classify Sabian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 959 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sabian most popular?
The single biggest year for Sabian was 1999, when 99 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sabian is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sabian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 855 people with the name Sabian, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,939 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sabian in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sabian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sabian leans strongly male. 811 people counted with this name were male (94.9%), compared with 44 female bearers (5.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sabian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sabian is Hispanic at 34.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.3%) and Black (22.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sabian most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sabian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.4% (294 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sabian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sabian a male name?
Yes, 97.8% of people registered as Sabian in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sabian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sabian in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sabian can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Sabian?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.