Saviour
One who saves, redeems or rescues from ruin or danger.
Name Census estimates that about 168 living Americans carry the first name Saviour. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Saviour today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saviour births was 2024 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saviour. 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 Saviour with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
168
~ 1 in 2,040,204 Americans
Peak year
2024
48 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,732
Tracked since 2005
Census
Saviour in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 171 people with the first name Saviour, which placed it at #42,203 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
#42,203
National first-name rank
People counted
171
171 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saviour
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saviour is Black at 59.6%. The next largest groups are White (24.0%) and Hispanic (11.7%). 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 Saviour 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 Saviour at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.6% · 102
- White24.0% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino11.7% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 4
- Two or more races2.3% · 4
Popularity
Saviour: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saviour from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 104 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saviour 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 Saviour during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saviours live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Florida, North Carolina, Texas recorded the most babies named Saviour, while Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Saviour
The name Saviour has its roots in the Latin word 'salvator', which means 'one who saves or delivers'. It is a direct translation of the Greek word 'soter', which has a similar meaning. The name is closely associated with religious and spiritual traditions, particularly Christianity, where it is used as a title for Jesus Christ, the central figure believed to be the savior of humanity.
In the Bible, Jesus is referred to as the 'Saviour of the World' or the 'Saviour of Mankind', reflecting the belief that his sacrifice and resurrection offered salvation from sin and the promise of eternal life. The name Saviour is sometimes used interchangeably with the titles 'Redeemer' and 'Deliverer', further emphasizing the concept of being saved or rescued from a perilous or sinful state.
The earliest recorded use of the name Saviour can be traced back to the 4th century AD, when it appeared in various religious texts and writings. One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name was Saviour of Lerins, a 5th-century French monk and abbot who lived from 415 to 480 AD.
Throughout history, the name Saviour has been borne by several notable figures, many of whom were deeply religious or associated with spiritual or philanthropic endeavors. For instance, Saviour Trogmalic (1675-1730) was a French priest and missionary who worked in India and established several churches and schools.
Another prominent figure was Saviour Reviglio (1849-1918), an Italian Roman Catholic priest and founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Saviour, a religious order dedicated to education and social work. Saviour Brebion (1876-1962) was a French prelate who served as the Bishop of Valence from 1919 to 1950.
In more recent times, Saviour Kasukuwere (born 1971) is a Zimbabwean politician who served as a government minister and member of parliament. Saviour Pirotta (born 1958) is a Maltese author and writer of children's books, best known for his popular series featuring the character 'Sicilian Saviour'.
While the name Saviour is not as common in modern times, it continues to hold religious and spiritual significance, particularly within Christian communities, where it is seen as a powerful and meaningful moniker that evokes themes of deliverance, redemption, and salvation.
People
Saviour + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saviour 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
Saviour: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saviour?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 168 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saviour 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 2,040,204 US residents.
Is Saviour a common name?
We classify Saviour as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 169 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saviour most popular?
The single biggest year for Saviour was 2024, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saviour is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saviour in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 171 people with the name Saviour, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,203 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 Saviour 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 Saviour?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saviour leans strongly male. 151 people counted with this name were male (87.8%), compared with 21 female bearers (12.2%). 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 Saviour?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saviour is Black at 59.6%. The next largest groups are White (24.0%) and Hispanic (11.7%). 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 Saviour most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Saviour in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.6% (102 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 Saviour in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saviour a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saviour in the SSA data are male. 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 Saviour still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saviour 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 Saviour 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 Saviour?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Saviour on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.