Saraphina
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "burning one" or "fiery one".
Name Census estimates that about 204 living Americans carry the first name Saraphina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saraphina today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saraphina births was 2013 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saraphina. 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.
People living today
204
~ 1 in 1,680,168 Americans
Peak year
2013
18 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,509
Tracked since 2000
Census
Saraphina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Saraphina, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saraphina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saraphina is White at 37.4%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Two or More Races (10.6%). 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 Saraphina 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 Saraphina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.4% · 88
- Black or African American28.5% · 67
- Two or more races10.6% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native8.9% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 12
Popularity
Saraphina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saraphina from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 108 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saraphina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saraphina 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 Saraphina 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 Saraphina
The name Saraphina has its roots in the Hebrew name Seraphina, which means "burning ones" or "fiery ones." This name is derived from the word "seraph," which refers to an angelic being described in the Bible as having six wings and representing divine love and light.
The earliest known use of the name Saraphina dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was a popular name among European nobility and royalty. It was particularly common in Italy and Spain, where it was sometimes spelled as Serafina or Seraphina.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Saraphina was a 12th-century Italian noblewoman named Saraphina dei Conti di Segni, who was a member of a prominent Roman family. Another notable figure from this period was Saraphina of Aragon, a 13th-century Spanish princess and member of the House of Aragon.
During the Renaissance, the name Saraphina gained further popularity and was associated with artistic and intellectual circles. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Saraphina Piccinardi, an Italian painter and poet who lived in the 16th century and was known for her portraits and sonnets.
In the 17th century, Saraphina de Figueroa was a Spanish nun and mystic who founded the Order of the Immaculate Conception and wrote extensively on spiritual matters. Around the same time, Saraphina Sibylla was a German poet and author who published several works of poetry and prose.
Moving into the 18th century, Saraphina Viardot-Garcia was a renowned French mezzo-soprano and composer who was born in 1821 and gained fame for her performances in operas by composers such as Meyerbeer and Berlioz.
Throughout its history, the name Saraphina has been associated with themes of divine love, passion, and artistic expression, reflecting its origins as a name derived from the biblical concept of the seraphim angels.
People
Saraphina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saraphina 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
Saraphina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saraphina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saraphina 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 1,680,168 US residents.
Is Saraphina a common name?
We classify Saraphina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 206 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saraphina most popular?
The single biggest year for Saraphina was 2013, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saraphina is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saraphina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Saraphina, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Saraphina 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 Saraphina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saraphina appears almost entirely female. Of the 230 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 Saraphina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saraphina is White at 37.4%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Two or More Races (10.6%). 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 Saraphina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Saraphina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.4% (88 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 Saraphina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saraphina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saraphina 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 Saraphina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saraphina 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 Saraphina 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 Americans are named Saraphina?
You can see how many Americans are named Saraphina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.