Savanna
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "grassy plain".
Name Census estimates that about 32,083 living Americans carry the first name Savanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Savanna today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Savanna births was 2006 (1,502 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Savanna. 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 Savanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
32K
~ 1 in 10,683 Americans
Peak year
2006
1,502 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2004 SSA rank
#1,007
Tracked since 1916
Census
Savanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 27,636 people with the first name Savanna, which placed it at #1,323 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
#1,323
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
27,636 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Savanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Savanna is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and Black (6.1%). 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 Savanna 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 Savanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.5% · 19,489
- Hispanic or Latino14.5% · 4,003
- Black or African American6.1% · 1,681
- Two or more races6.1% · 1,680
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 459
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 324
Gender
Gender distribution for Savanna
Out of the 32,760 babies given the name Savanna since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Savanna as a male name
- Ranked #7,425 in 2004
- 10 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2004 (10 births)
Savanna as a female name
- Ranked #1,007 in 2024
- 254 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (1,502 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Savanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 27,639 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Savanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Savanna from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 13,046 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
Savanna 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 Savanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Savannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Savanna, while Wyoming, Vermont, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 625 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Savanna
The name Savanna is derived from the Spanish word "sabana," which means a treeless plain or a grassy meadow. It is believed to have originated from the Taino language of the Caribbean, where the word "savana" referred to the grasslands and prairies found in the region. The name's roots can be traced back to the late 15th century when the Spanish colonizers arrived in the Americas.
The earliest recorded use of the name Savanna dates back to the 17th century, when it was used to describe the vast grasslands and savannas found in the Americas. In the 18th century, the name began to be used as a personal name, particularly among Spanish and Portuguese speakers.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Savanna was Savanna Barreto, a Portuguese explorer who led expeditions into the Amazon Basin in the late 16th century. Another notable figure was Savanna de Segovia, a Spanish nun and mystic who lived in the 16th century and was known for her visions and prophecies.
In the 19th century, the name gained popularity in the United States, particularly in the Southern states where the landscape resembled the savannas of the Americas. One of the most famous individuals with the name was Savanna Archer, an American writer and activist who fought for women's rights and abolition in the mid-19th century.
Another notable figure was Savanna Everett, an American soldier who fought in the Civil War and was awarded the Medal of Honor for her bravery and valor on the battlefield. In the 20th century, Savanna Douglass was an American actress and dancer who rose to fame in the 1920s and appeared in several Broadway productions.
The name Savanna has also been used in literature and popular culture. In the classic novel "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell, one of the main characters is named Savanna O'Hara. Additionally, the name has been used in various television shows and movies, further contributing to its popularity.
People
Savanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Savanna 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
Savanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Savanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32,083 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Savanna 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 10,683 US residents.
Is Savanna a common name?
We classify Savanna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32,760 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Savanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Savanna was 2006, when 1,502 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Savanna is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Savanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 27,636 people with the name Savanna, or 9.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,323 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 Savanna 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 Savanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Savanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 27,639 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Savanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Savanna is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and Black (6.1%). 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 Savanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Savanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.5% (19,489 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 Savanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Savanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Savanna 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 Savanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Savanna 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 Savanna 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 Savanna?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.