Sadiyah
A feminine given name of Arabic origin meaning "honest woman" or "righteous".
Name Census estimates that about 327 living Americans carry the first name Sadiyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sadiyah today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sadiyah births was 2004 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sadiyah. 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 Sadiyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
327
~ 1 in 1,048,178 Americans
Peak year
2004
20 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,903
Tracked since 1989
Census
Sadiyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 291 people with the first name Sadiyah, which placed it at #30,113 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
#30,113
National first-name rank
People counted
291
291 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sadiyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sadiyah is Black at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.6%) and Two or More Races (7.9%). 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 Sadiyah 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 Sadiyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.2% · 178
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.6% · 60
- Two or more races7.9% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 17
- White2.7% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 5
Popularity
Sadiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sadiyah from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 155 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
Sadiyah 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 Sadiyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sadiyahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sadiyah
The name Sadiyah is of Arabic origin and can be traced back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic root word "sadah," which means "to guide" or "to lead." The name is also closely related to the Arabic word "saadah," meaning "happiness" or "bliss."
In the Islamic tradition, Sadiyah is considered a beautiful and meaningful name. It is believed to have been inspired by the teachings of the Quran, which emphasize the importance of seeking guidance and being led towards a righteous path.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sadiyah can be found in the writings of renowned Islamic scholars and historians from the medieval period. For example, the 9th-century historian Al-Tabari mentioned a woman named Sadiyah in his influential work, "The History of Prophets and Kings."
Throughout history, there have been several notable women who bore the name Sadiyah. One of the most famous was Sadiyah bint Al-Husayn (born in the late 7th century CE), a renowned scholar and poet from the Abbasid Caliphate. She was known for her expertise in various fields, including literature, grammar, and Islamic jurisprudence.
Another notable Sadiyah was Sadiyah Al-Himyariyyah (born in the 8th century CE), a distinguished poet and literary figure from the Umayyad Caliphate. Her poetry was widely celebrated and praised for its emotional depth and linguistic elegance.
In the 12th century, Sadiyah bint Ahmed Al-Munajjid (1145-1200 CE) was a prominent female scholar and poet from Damascus. She was highly respected for her knowledge of Islamic sciences and her contributions to the literary and intellectual circles of her time.
During the Ottoman period, Sadiyah Sultan (1594-1623 CE) was a prominent figure at the Ottoman court. She was the daughter of Sultan Ahmed I and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of various charitable initiatives.
In more recent times, Sadiyah Khalidi (1891-1983) was a renowned Palestinian educator and activist. She played a crucial role in establishing several schools in Palestine and was a prominent advocate for women's education and empowerment.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Sadiyah. The name has a rich cultural and historical significance, reflecting its deep-rooted Arabic origins and its association with guidance, happiness, and intellectual pursuits.
People
Sadiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sadiyah 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
Sadiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sadiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 327 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sadiyah 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 1,048,178 US residents.
Is Sadiyah a common name?
We classify Sadiyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 332 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sadiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Sadiyah was 2004, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sadiyah is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sadiyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 291 people with the name Sadiyah, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,113 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 Sadiyah 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 Sadiyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sadiyah appears almost entirely female. Of the 290 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Sadiyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sadiyah is Black at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.6%) and Two or More Races (7.9%). 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 Sadiyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sadiyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.2% (178 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 Sadiyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sadiyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sadiyah 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 Sadiyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sadiyah 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 Sadiyah 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 share the name Sadiyah?
You can see how many people share the name Sadiyah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.