Saphia
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "pure" or "immaculate".
Name Census estimates that about 106 living Americans carry the first name Saphia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saphia today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saphia births was 2007 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saphia. 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 Saphia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
106
~ 1 in 3,233,531 Americans
Peak year
2007
12 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,188
Tracked since 1981
Census
Saphia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 162 people with the first name Saphia, which placed it at #43,512 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
#43,512
National first-name rank
People counted
162
162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
29.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saphia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saphia is White at 29.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.4%) and Hispanic (19.8%). 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 Saphia 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 Saphia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White29.0% · 47
- Black or African American28.4% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino19.8% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.7% · 19
- Two or more races10.5% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Saphia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saphia from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 36 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saphia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saphia 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 Saphia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Saphia
The name Saphia is of Arabic origin and is derived from the Arabic word "safa," which means "clarity" or "purity." It is a variation of the name Safiya, which has been a popular name in the Arab world for centuries.
The earliest recorded use of the name Saphia can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. One of the most famous historical figures with this name was Saphia bint Huyayy, who was a prominent Jewish woman in Medina and is mentioned in Islamic texts for her wisdom and knowledge.
In the 11th century, Saphia al-Andalusiyya was a renowned poet and scholar from Andalusia, Spain. She was known for her eloquent poetry and her contributions to the field of Arabic literature.
During the 13th century, Saphia al-Sulamiyya was a Sufi mystic and spiritual leader from Damascus. She was renowned for her teachings on the path of self-knowledge and spiritual enlightenment.
In the 16th century, Saphia Bano was a princess of the Mughal Empire in India. She was known for her beauty, intelligence, and patronage of the arts.
Another notable figure with the name Saphia was Saphia Ismail, a 19th-century Egyptian feminist and activist who fought for women's rights and education.
While the name Saphia has its roots in the Arabic language, it has also been adopted and used in various cultures around the world, particularly in regions with significant Arab or Muslim influence. The name carries a sense of clarity, purity, and wisdom, and has been associated with many remarkable women throughout history.
People
Saphia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saphia 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
Saphia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saphia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 106 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saphia 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 3,233,531 US residents.
Is Saphia a common name?
We classify Saphia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 108 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saphia most popular?
The single biggest year for Saphia was 2007, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saphia is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saphia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 162 people with the name Saphia, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,512 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 Saphia 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 Saphia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saphia appears almost entirely female. Of the 166 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Saphia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saphia is White at 29.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.4%) and Hispanic (19.8%). 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 Saphia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Saphia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 29.0% (47 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 Saphia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saphia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saphia 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 Saphia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saphia 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 Saphia 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 named Saphia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.