Sabra
Derived from Hebrew, meaning "prickly pear cactus" or "woman born in Israel".
Name Census estimates that about 3,535 living Americans carry the first name Sabra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sabra today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sabra births was 1961 (155 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sabra. 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 Sabra with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 96,960 Americans
Peak year
1961
155 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,926
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sabra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,762 people with the first name Sabra, which placed it at #4,802 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
#4,802
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,762 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sabra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sabra is White at 77.1%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Sabra 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 Sabra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.1% · 2,899
- Black or African American9.8% · 367
- Two or more races5.4% · 203
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 161
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 98
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 34
Popularity
Sabra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sabra from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 879 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sabra 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 Sabra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sabras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Sabra, while Washington, Virginia, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sabra
The given name Sabra has its origins in Arabic, where it means "cactus flower" or "prickly pear". The name likely originated in the Middle East and North Africa, where the prickly pear cactus is native and an important part of the culture and cuisine.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sabra dates back to the 7th century, when it appeared in various Arabic texts and writings. In some interpretations, the name is also linked to the Hebrew word "tzabra", which means "cactus" or "prickly plant".
One of the earliest notable historical figures with the name Sabra was Sabra ibn Sahl al-Tamimi, a prominent Arab poet and scholar who lived in the 9th century. Another famous Sabra was Sabra al-Andalusiyya, a renowned Andalusian poet and calligrapher who lived in the 11th century.
In the 20th century, the name Sabra gained additional significance in Israel, where it became a term used to refer to Jewish people born in the region, particularly those of a hardy and resilient nature, much like the prickly pear cactus.
One of the most famous modern bearers of the name Sabra was Sabra Khalil, an Egyptian singer and actress who rose to fame in the 1940s and 1950s. She was born in 1924 and passed away in 2022 at the age of 97.
Another notable Sabra was Sabra Shammas, a Palestinian American writer and academic who was born in 1927 and passed away in 2021 at the age of 93. She was known for her contributions to the study of Arabic literature and culture.
Additionally, Sabra Salim Al-Falahi was an Omani singer and songwriter who gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. She was born in 1948 and passed away in 2005 at the age of 57.
While the name Sabra has its roots in the Middle East and North Africa, it has also been adopted in other cultures and regions, often carrying the symbolic meaning of resilience and strength, much like the hardy cactus flower it represents.
People
Sabra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sabra 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
Sabra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sabra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,535 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sabra 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 96,960 US residents.
Is Sabra a common name?
We classify Sabra as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,952 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sabra most popular?
The single biggest year for Sabra was 1961, when 155 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sabra is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sabra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,762 people with the name Sabra, or 1.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,802 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 Sabra 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 Sabra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sabra appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,760 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Sabra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sabra is White at 77.1%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Sabra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sabra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.1% (2,899 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 Sabra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sabra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sabra in the SSA data are female. 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 Sabra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sabra 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 Sabra 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 common is the name Sabra?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Sabra at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.